China just hauled in ByteDance and Alibaba for a serious talk. On Tuesday, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) summoned ByteDance’s news platform, Toutiao, and Alibaba’s UCWeb browser unit over content violations. The agency said both platforms had been punished for distributing material that “disrupted the online ecosystem order.” CAC said it imposed strict disciplinary actions on the personnel behind the mess. This move is part of a wider two-month crackdown launched Monday by CAC. The campaign targets online content that pushes “violent or hostile sentiment,” aiming to promote a version of China’s internet that is clean, obedient, and in line with socialist values. The internet in China is not a free-for-all. It’s a curated space where the state decides what’s healthy and what’s not, and right now, that means going after anything negative or critical. Regulators punish platforms over trending topics CAC singled out Toutiao for letting “harmful content” surface on trending lists and other public areas of the platform. UCWeb, on the other hand, got slammed for giving space to “non-authoritative sources” and “non-mainstream media,” especially stories linked to “extremely sensitive and malicious cases and events.” The regulator said these violations touched on serious issues, like cyberbullying and the exposure of minors’ privacy. Both statements ended the same way, with a threat. CAC vowed to “wield the ‘sharp sword’ of online law enforcement” and keep pushing until China’s cyberspace is exactly how they want it: polished, controlled, and aligned with the ruling party’s values. If you’ve got a platform in China, your content better match the Party’s vibe, or you’re next. Toutiao didn’t push back. In fact, the company put out a statement saying it welcomed the punishment and promised to set up a special team to clean things up and crack down on trolls. That’s the tone you use when you know resistance isn’t an option. This wasn’t a one-off. CAC already went after other big platforms last week. That list includes video app Kuaishou, the Twitter-like Weibo, and photo-sharing app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote. All were accused of similar content violations. And this isn’t just about tech companies anymore. Scrutiny expands to e-commerce and US-linked TikTok deal While the CAC hits content platforms, other regulators are digging into China’s wider private sector. On Tuesday, Huolala, a major cargo platform, was summoned by China’s market regulator. Officials told them to get their act together and fully comply with the anti-monopoly law. Just four days earlier, the same watchdog opened an investigation into Kuaigou, an e-commerce arm of livestream company Kuaishou, for suspected violations of China’s e-commerce law. Now flip the screen to the U.S., and there’s also trouble brewing there, with TikTok. The White House is working on a deal to force ByteDance to spin off TikTok’s U.S. assets into American hands. If the deal happens, Oracle would grab a piece. They already run TikTok’s U.S. cloud. Other names floating around include Silver Lake, Andreesen Horowitz, and Fox Corp. Oracle’s founder, Larry Ellison, has been getting extremely close to Trump. So is outgoing CEO Safra Catz. Marc Andreesen is Silicon Valley’s MAGA mascot. And the Murdochs? They own Fox News. No surprises here. But there’s a problem. TikTok’s board still has to do right by its shareholders. That means they can’t just hand the app over and turn it into a mouthpiece for right-wing media, even if the deal is politically convenient. Still, TikTok’s massive audience is drifting into Trump-friendly territory. This comes after a year where the Trump camp has sued ABC, CBS, The New York Times, and Wall Street Journal. Media control is clearly the goal. Trump credited TikTok for helping pull in younger Republican voters in 2024. But TikTok’s base is mostly left-leaning and young. If the app shifts hard to the right, don’t be shocked when users start running — just like what happened to Twitter after Elon’s takeover. If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter .
