China’s second-richest man surprisingly demanded on Wednesday that the country’s richest man, founder of ByteDance, apologize for the perceived role TikTok’s Chinese sibling Douyin has played in “spreading rumors and disinformation.”
Zhong Shanshan, 69 – founder and chairman of China’s largest packaged beverage company Nongfu Spring and the country’s second-richest person, according to Hurun’s latest rankings – lashed out at 41-year-old Zhang Yiming for allowing misinformation to spread spread on ByteDance’s social media platforms and caused damage. Zhong’s reputation.
ByteDance declined to comment Thursday.
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Zhong’s comments, part of a public speech in southeastern China’s Jiangxi province, were widely reported by Chinese media. The billionaire entrepreneur and the company he runs were targeted by online nationalist trolls earlier this year due to the perceived Japanese style of the packaging, leading to a boycott by angry consumers.
Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance. Photo: Chinatopix via AP alt=Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance. Photo: Chinatopix via AP>
The series of attack campaigns sparked a debate over the responsibility of the Chinese government, opinion leaders, the public and social media in stoking nationalist passions, but Zhong is the first businessman to openly point the finger at online platforms.
Specifically, he named Douyin, China’s most popular short video app, and Toutiao, ByteDance’s news feed tool, as the culprits.
“I request Toutiao and Douyin not to use the so-called safe harbor principle to evade their responsibility,” Zhong was quoted by local media. “Please delete immediately that hurts me and slanders me.”
He added that Zhang, “the de facto administrator of ByteDance,” should “follow the rules of business courtesy.” Zhang has retreated from the public eye after stepping down as CEO of ByteDance and relinquishing his board seat in 2021, but is believed to continue to wield significant power behind the scenes.
Nongfu Spring bottled water sold in a supermarket in Hong Kong. Photo: Jelly Tse alt=Nongfu Spring bottled water sold in a supermarket in Hong Kong. Photo: Jelly Tse>
Zhong said that if left unchecked, internet platforms cause more harm than any other entity. He called on authorities to “come out and give us justice” and asked ByteDance to make its content recommendation algorithm public.
His comments came after Beijing pledged to protect private companies and entrepreneurs from online bullying as the country pushed to restore confidence in the private sector to revive a sputtering economy.
Zhong demanded that ByteDance and Zhang apologize. “I look forward to your apology and I will continue to wait for it,” Zhong said.
Nongfu Spring has previously blamed internet rumors for hurting its business. The Hangzhou-based company’s bottled water sales fell by more than 18 percent to 8.53 billion yuan ($1.18 billion) in the first half, according to the interim report.
“Since late February 2024, our brand and sales have been seriously negatively impacted by a wave of online attacks and malicious defamation against our company and its founder,” the company said.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice covering China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP Facebook page Tweet pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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