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ByteDance censored content critical of Chinese government in Indonesia
- Friday | 14th August, 2020
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Chinese tech giant ByteDance censored content it perceived as critical of the Chinese government on its news aggregator app in Indonesia from 2018 to mid-2020, six people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Those guidelines, which are published on its website, do not mention China or the Chinese government. “A cursory search on the BaBe app shows numerous articles and videos that highlight the type of content these claims say we would remove,” the statement said. ByteDance bought Indonesian news aggregator BaBe in 2018 after TikTok was briefly banned in the country for showing “pornography, inappropriate content and blasphemy”, according to officials. Three of the sources said BaBe was using content guidelines patterned on those used for ByteDance’s Chinese news app, Toutiao, with some tweaks made for Indonesia regarding the topic of elections as well regarding race, ethnicity, and religion in Indonesia.
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