The Chinese version of TikTok, another ByteDance-owned app called Douyin, has banned the account of a user who livestreamed himself harassing women on the street.
Internet users became aware of the video on Friday after a clip was shared on Weibo. In it, a man was seen approaching various young women on a busy street at night. He was repeatedly ignored but kept pressing on.
“Hi, pretty woman, can you let me kiss you?” the man asked from behind the camera, keeping his phone pointed at a woman who kept walking away. Many live comments on the video encouraged the man, saying “kiss” or “kiss the girl.”
At one point, he revealed to two women that he was a Douyin host while showing viewers what was purportedly a key to a luxury car. He then caught sight of another woman leaning on a railing. He started trailing her, believing that she was drunk.
“Pretty woman, do you need someone to bring you home?” he asked.
In an angry post, science blogger Yixiaohan, who posted the clip, blasted the streamer for insulting women.
Within two hours after the post appeared, Douyin said it had permanently banned the man from the app. The platform also said it reported him to a livestreamer blacklist maintained by government regulators.
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Douyin, as with TikTok and other social platforms like Facebook and Twitter, continue to face challenges with moderating content. Some of this content is violent and gruesome: Just this week, TikTok has been rushing to delete a graphic video circulating on the app of a man shooting himself with a gun.
In China, authorities have recently stepped up control over livestreaming content. Nearly 50 livestreamers were added to an official blacklist last month. People can be added to the blacklist for different reasons, which have included the broadcast of pornographic or vulgar content in the past. A ban might result from simply performing wacky stunts that authorities find distasteful.
One famous incident concerned Your Highness Qiaobiluo.
The viral streamer was believed by many viewers to be in her twenties until she inadvertently revealed herself to be a middle-aged woman during a livestream when she did not apply any beauty filters. She immediately drew a dramatic uptick in followers before the Douyu platform banned her for “causing adverse social impact” and “deliberately generating hype.” She later landed on the government blacklist, which forbids her from streaming for five years.
This article was originally published by Abacus News.