ByteDance details dozens of internal misconduct cases from bribery and data leaks to using company funds for personal expenses
- The cases involve improper behaviour by employees, such as accepting kickbacks and leaking information to business competitors
- Other cases, which span multiple departments from Douyin to e-commerce and CapCut, include theft and conflict of interest
ByteDance, owner of hit short-video app TikTok and its Chinese sibling Douyin, has internally disclosed 61 misconduct cases involving employees who were fired or charged by authorities for accepting bribes, leaking data and claiming expenses inappropriately, among other wrongdoings.
Four employees were detained or released on bail, including former Douyin worker Lu Yang, who accepted “large sums of kickbacks from external partners”, according to an internal email sent on Sunday that was seen by the Post. Lu, who joined ByteDance in 2018, was in charge of digital music rights, his LinkedIn profile shows.
Lu, together with three other arrested employees, has been blacklisted by the Trust and Integrity Enterprise Alliance and Enterprise Anti-fraud Alliance, according to the email. The two major professional ethics groups in China each has more than 100 member companies.
A ByteDance representative confirmed the content of the email. Lu did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn. The Post was unable to reach other people named in ByteDance’s email.
Other problematic cases identified by ByteDance were classified as violations of the “integrity and honesty system”, “conflict of interest regime” and “information security system”.
