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

Bytedance’s TikTok said the comments disrupted the positive and peaceful atmosphere of the platform and even incited illegal behavior.

SHANGHAI — China’s top social media company condemned online hate speech against Japanese people and issued a strong response to comments sparked by a knife attack last week that left one person dead and injured a Japanese mother and child.

Such waves of sentiment and strong nationalist sentiment are not uncommon, but companies ranging from WeChat owner Tencent to TikTok’s sister site Douyin (owned by ByteDance), Weibo and NetEase have condemned last week’s remarks.

TikTok said in a post on Sunday, June 30: “These comments disrupted the positive and peaceful atmosphere of the platform and even incited illegal behavior,” adding that these “remarks are extremely wrong and promote xenophobia.”

In the latest stabbing incident across the country, a Japanese mother and her child were injured while waiting for a school bus in the eastern city of Suzhou. A Chinese bus attendant was killed when he tried to intervene.

Anti-Japanese sentiment in China stems from painful memories of its neighbor’s invasion during World War II, leading some to take pleasure in Japanese military attacks on their own citizens.

The article also said that these extreme comments on Douyin stood out among the many comments praising the heroic deeds of 55-year-old bus driver Hu Youping.

Tencent said it has handled 836 cases of related violations.

On Saturday, an online commentary said, “Some netizens are inciting confrontation between China and Japan, stirring up extreme nationalism, and concocting all kinds of extreme remarks online.”

State media also condemned online hate speech.

“We also will not accept individuals hyping up ‘xenophobia’ and hate speech,” the official People’s Daily said in an editorial on Friday. “This is unacceptable to mainstream Chinese society and to us Chinese.” – Rappler.com