Chapter 138

Three days after the meeting ended, hundreds of police officers suddenly raided the Douyin offices. Around thirty people were arrested and taken away. These individuals were all found to have accepted bribes funded by offshore entities. This incident quickly hit the news and even trended on Weibo. Douyin issued an official video statement regarding the matter. The platform also began focusing its efforts on accounts that frequently liked foreign videos. Moreover, this incident led to a formal partnership between Douyin and the police: Douyin would flag suspicious users and share data with law enforcement. This provided a new layer of protection for the platform, and in the aftermath, Douyin became significantly cleaner. Following this, Douyin took another move that caused an earthquake in the industry: they developed a "Youth Mode." Many parents applauded the move. Once activated, the phone would lock after a short period of use, and the content provided was extremely dull. To disable it, one had to enter a pre-set password. Parents could also use the phone themselves just by entering that password, as the data for the two modes was kept entirely separate.