Chinese social media companies condemn hate speech against Japanese after knife attack

“These comments have disrupted the positive and peaceful atmosphere of the platform and even incited illegal behavior,” says ByteDance’s Douyin

SHANGHAI, China – China’s leading social media companies have condemned online hate speech against Japanese people, responding forcefully to comments sparked by a knife attack last week that left one person dead and a Japanese mother and her child injured.

Such mood swings and a vocal nationalist element are not uncommon, but companies ranging from WeChat owner Tencent to TikTok’s ByteDance sister site Douyin, Weibo and NetEase have condemned last week’s comments.

“These comments have disrupted the positive and peaceful atmosphere of the platform and even called for illegal behavior,” Douyin said in an online post on Sunday, June 30, pointing to “extreme and false statements” that “promote xenophobia.”

In the latest in a nationwide series of knife attacks, a Japanese mother and her preschool child were injured while waiting for a school bus in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou, and a Chinese bus conductor died from injuries sustained while intervening.

Anti-Japanese sentiment in China stems from bitter memories of its neighbour’s aggression during World War II. Some welcome the fact that their own citizens were also targeted in the attack.

The extreme comments on Douyin stood out among the flood of tributes honoring the heroism of 55-year-old bus conductor Hu Youping, it said.

Tencent said the company had investigated 836 cases of content that violated the company’s rules.

“Some netizens have called for confrontation between China and Japan, provoked extreme nationalism and fabricated various extreme remarks on the Internet,” online comments said on Saturday.

State media also condemned the hate speech on the Internet.

“We will not tolerate the incitement of ‘xenophobia’ and hate speech by individuals,” said an editorial in the state-controlled People’s Daily on Friday. “This is unacceptable for the majority of Chinese society and for us Chinese.” – Rappler.com