Freedom of expression continues to shrink on the Chinese Internet. ByteDance has unveiled new rules outlining what content is acceptable or not on Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese twin. A new regulation that came into force several months ago, but only spotted on January 3 by the IPVM group and relayed in France by Numerama.
LGBTQ+ videos banned
In a note published on its developer forum, ByteDance specifies the new rules as of October 8, 2022 on its Douyin application. As a reminder, Douyin is the Chinese clone of TikTok, a similar version of the app adapted to the centralized Internet of the country where not all content is accepted. In the country, it would be around 600 million users who regularly use the social network. A new version of the blacklist of subjects that are forbidden to discuss on video on Douyin has been unveiled.
Among the prohibited topics, opinions “unhealthy and unconventional about marriage, contrary to social morality”, are now banned from the application. Terms taken in extenso from a law promulgated by the Chinese government, according to IPVM. Although very vague, this wording is used to prohibit content referring to the LGBTQ+ community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and asexual people). So an influencer tried to post a video of a male friend about to kiss her, but the video was deleted for non-compliance with community rules [de Douyin]” because of a “possible involvement in promoting non-traditional views on marriage and love”.
Do not attack the image of the Communist Party
But Chinese censorship doesn’t stop at love. Since the entry into force of the new rules, it is forbidden to post a video which “divides the country and damages its image”who criticizes “or damage to the image of the people’s army, state security, police, administration, justice and other state officials and members of the Communist Party”which deforms and degrades “national cultural traditions or violates national religious policies” or who “violates national regulations and relevant social and moral standards”notably.
A real censorship for the benefit of Beijing which will be exercised in several stages: the deletion of the incriminated video, the restriction of searches on the application, the reduction of the visibility of the videos published (on authorized subjects) or the restriction of the withdrawal of money generated by the creator.