Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, now bans LGBTQ+ content.
This censorship is among several measures taken at the end of October 2022 by ByteDance to “ensure the quality of the content of the videos”.
Very discreet, the announcement of the new moderation criteria was only discovered in early January 2023, by the specialized media
IPVM
, reports
Numerama
.
These measures widen the gap between TikTok and Douyin, two almost identical social networks and both under the control of ByteDance.
Several contents now prohibited
The Chinese group has thus, among other things, banned videos "promoting unhealthy and unconventional opinions on marriage and love and contrary to morality".
This formulation, resulting from a Chinese government law on the moderation of content on the Internet, is directly aimed at the LGBTQ+ community.
Three other types of content are banned by the platform.
Videos "attacking China's political and judicial system" and "tarnishing its image", those "criticizing the Chinese army" and "members of the Chinese Communist Party" and finally those "disparaging the excellent Chinese cultural traditions are now prohibited. or "promoting feudal superstitions".
What are the consequences for offenders?
Failure to comply with these new rules results in the immediate deletion of the videos in violation, or even the freezing and invisibilization (shadow-ban) of the accounts which published them.
Homophobic comments are not explicitly prohibited in Douyin's terms of use.
Conversely, TikTok, the international version of the application banned in China, continues to develop its marketing around the representation of LGBTQ + people.
The platform notably organized several events last June in France and in the rest of the world on the occasion of Pride month.
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