From ‘life coach’ to ‘spiritual healer’: China’s version of TikTok targets fake experts

SINGAPORE: China’s leading short video platform TikTok is cracking down on fake experts and “self-styled guru” accounts amid a wider government clean-up of cyberspace.

TikTok’s domestic sister app WeChat announced the crackdown in a statement on Monday (July 22), saying a small number of accounts with “fake identities” had been discovered recently.

These people, who claim to be well-known corporate executives, experts or “self-proclaimed gurus”, win the trust of Douyin users and then guide them to third-party platforms to make profits.

The platform warned: “Such behavior violates (TikTok’s) platform rules and may cause other users to suffer financial and emotional losses.” According to Statista, as of February 2024, TikTok had approximately 755 million monthly active users.

TikTok said on Monday it has always been committed to maintaining a “clean, safe and trustworthy environment.” It urged offending accounts to “correct” or delete inaccurate or misleading information in a timely manner, or provide credible evidence to prove their claims.

Otherwise, they could face account bans, nickname or profile resets, and video deletions.

Violating accounts may also have their monetization privileges revoked, be removed from search listings, or be blocked from gaining new followers.

“The Master of Lost Love”

TikTok cited examples of how these “fake expert” accounts violated its rules.

For example, some users claim to have professional achievements but do not have or are unable to provide verifiable evidence, such as claiming to be a “factory manager of a large factory” or an executive with “20 years of corporate experience”.

Also targeted are accounts whose “performance cannot be verified.” For example, Douyin said they would claim to have “successfully helped more than 300 companies double their sales,” “helped 1 million mothers get rich by working part-time,” or “brought 5,000 couples together.”

Accounts run by “self-proclaimed gurus” whose titles cannot be verified or whose titles are not “widely recognized by society” may also be banned.

TikTok pointed out that these people claim to be “love and marriage experts”, “life coaches”, “spiritual healing masters” and “broken heart repair masters”.