ByteDance Dismisses 61 Employees for Corruption

The Chinese media Jiemian learned from internal sources at ByteDance that the company’s Corporate Discipline and Professional Ethics Committee reported 61 cases of employee violations of laws and discipline today, and all employees involved have been dismissed.

Four individuals have been criminally investigated by public security organs for suspected criminal activities. Among them, a Douyin employee used their position to illegally accept significant benefits from external business partners. They were criminally detained by public security organs on January 26 for investigation. ByteDance has since revoked their stock options and year-end bonus eligibility. Another former outsourced employee in product development and engineering architecture collaborated with external organizations to boost Douyin account views and earn illegal income. They were criminally detained by public security organs in March this year.

Additionally, 24 employees were involved in misconduct, including fraudulent activities like submitting inflated invoices or personal expenses as business costs, misusing company funds. One employee misused company resources for personal gain, while multiple employees submitted false reimbursements. The company took action against these employees and required them to return any unlawfully obtained funds.

Ten employees engaged in unauthorized access, retention, disclosure of internal company information, and allowing external individuals to use internal systems containing sensitive data. For example, a former KineMaster employee collaborated with former product development and engineering architecture employees and a competitor company CEO to develop competitive products. Wang Kunyan also used company resources and working hours to engage in external company operations, significantly hindering the company’s investigation process. Several employees from departments such as e-commerce, real estate, and home decoration leaked sensitive business information and data to external individuals.

In March of this year, ByteDance internally reported cases of anti-fraud violations for the entire year of 2023. Douyin Group investigated a total of 177 cases of fraudulent violations, resulting in the dismissal of 136 individuals for crossing ethical boundaries and the referral of 23 individuals suspected of criminal activities to judicial authorities.

ByteDance stated that it maintains a zero-tolerance stance towards corruption, bribery, and all forms of fraud and dishonest behavior. If violations of laws, regulations, or employee codes of conduct are discovered and confirmed, the employees involved are immediately dismissed and will not be rehired. If the behavior is suspected of criminal activities, the group will fully cooperate with judicial authorities in investigations and hold individuals accountable for their legal responsibilities.

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