SINGAPORE: China’s leading short video app Douyin is cracking down on the accounts of false authorities and” self-proclaimed experts”, amid a wider cyber recovery being undertaken by the state.
The domestic sister app of TikTok announced the clampdown on Monday ( Jul 22 ) in a WeChat statement. It claimed it recently found a number of accounts with “fake personas.”  ,
Claiming to become professionals from popular companies, professionals or” self-proclaimed masters”, these characters gain the trust of Douyin people before directing them to third-party systems to make a profit.  ,
” Such behaviour violates ( Douyin’s ) platform rules and may cause other users to suffer financial and emotional losses”, the platform warned. Douyin had about 755 million monthly active users as of February 2024, according to Statista.
On Monday, Douyin stated that it has always been committed to keeping a” clean, healthy, and trusted environment.” It urged the upsetting accounts to promptly” right” or remove false or misleading information, or give believable proof of their claims.
If never, they face possible accounts bans, a update of their names or personal information, as well as movies being removed.
Insulting accounts may also have their crowdfunding rights cancelled, removed from search advertisements, or banned from gaining new fans.  ,
“MASTERS OF LOST Like Healing”
Douyin gave instances of conduct by these “fake specialist” records that went against its standards.
For example, people who claim to be successful but ca n’t or do not provide credible evidence, such as self-declared senior executives who claim to be the “director of a large factory” or professionals with” 20 years of experience in companies.”
Also in the crosshairs- accounts with” unverifiable performances”. For example, they would claim to have” successfully helped more than 300 companies double their sales”, helped” 1 million mothers get rich while working part-time”, or” brought 5, 000 couples together”, Douyin stated.
Accounts run by” self-proclaimed masters” who are well-known in society may also see themselves banned.
These are people who claim to be the” love and marriage experts””, life coaches””, spiritual healing gurus” as well as” masters of lost love recovery”, Douyin pointed out.