China’s largest news aggregator shamed by state media for misleading medical ads

Jinri Toutiao, operated by Beijing ByteDance Technology, has apologised for publishing the online medical ads amid tighter government regulation on internet content

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Jinri Toutiao, China’s most popular news aggregator, publicly apologised on Thursday for publishing medical advertisements that were described by state media as misleading and harmful to the public. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 8:32pm, 30 Mar 2018Updated: 11:18pm, 30 Mar 2018

Chinese state media has named and shamed Jinri Toutiao, the country’s most popular news app, for publishing online medical advertisements seen as misleading and harmful to the public, which nearly echoes the criticism levelled against internet search giant Baidu in the aftermath of a university student’s death around two years ago.

That accusation against Toutiao was made by People’s Daily in a commentary published on its website on Friday, following a programme aired on Thursday by broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) that featured the app’s representatives cosying up to persons described as shady advertisers.

The online commentary questioned whether Toutiao, which is operated by internet start-up Beijing ByteDance Technology, had any conscience for using artificial intelligence (AI) to push those misleading medical advertisement to users in tier-two and tier-three cities.

In a statement released late on Thursday in response to the CCTV programme, Toutiao apologised and said it had taken down the advertisements in question. It also pledged to do more to police its advertising sales team and agencies.

Inquiries made to Toutiao on Friday did not receive an immediate response.