China’s second-richest man demands apology from ByteDance founder over online attacks

BEIJING (SCMP): China’s second-wealthiest man on Wednesday made a surprise demand that the country’s richest man, founder of ByteDance, apologise for the perceived role that TikTok’s Chinese sibling Douyin has played in “spreading rumours and misinformation”.

Zhong Shanshan, 69 – founder and chairman of China’s largest packaged drinks company Nongfu Spring and the country’s second-richest person, according to Hurun’s latest rankings – lashed out at Zhang Yiming, 41, for allowing misinformation to spread on ByteDance’s social media platforms and damage Zhong’s reputation.

ByteDance declined to comment on Thursday.

Zhong’s remarks, part of a public speech made in the southeast Chinese province of Jiangxi, were widely reported by Chinese media.

The billionaire entrepreneur and the company he helms became the target of online nationalist trolls earlier this year over the perceived Japanese styling of its packaging, triggering a boycott by angry consumers.

Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance. Photo: Chinatopix via AP

The series of attack campaigns led to a debate about the responsibility of the Chinese government, opinion leaders, the public and social media in fermenting nationalist passions, but Zhong is the first businessman to openly point the finger at online platforms.

Specifically, he named Douyin, China’s most popular short-video app, and Toutiao, ByteDance’s newsfeed tool, as the culprits.

“I request Toutiao and Douyin not to use the so-called safe harbour principle to sidestep their responsibility,” Zhong was cited as saying by local media. “Please immediately remove [content] that hurts and slanders me.”

He added that Zhang, “the actual controller of ByteDance”, “should follow the rules of business civility”. Zhang has shied away from the public eye after stepping down as CEO of ByteDance and relinquishing his board seat in 2021, but he is believed to continue to wield considerable power behind the scene.

Zhong said that internet platforms, when left unchecked, bring more harm than any other entities. He called on authorities to “come out and do us justice” and asked ByteDance to disclose its content recommendation algorithm.

Nongfu Spring bottled water sold at a supermarket in Hong Kong.- Photo: Jelly Tse / SCMP

His comments came after Beijing vowed to protect private businesses and entrepreneurs from online bullying, as it pushed to restore confidence in the private sector to revive a sputtering economy.

Zhong demanded that ByteDance and Zhang say sorry. “I look forward to your apology and I will keep waiting for it,” Zhong said.

Nongfu Spring has previously blamed internet rumours for damaging its business. The Hangzhou-based company’s bottled water sales dropped over 18 per cent to 8.53 billion yuan (US$1.18 billion) in the first half, according to its interim report.

“Since the end of February 2024, our brand and sales have been severely impacted in a negative way due to a surge of online attacks and malicious defamation against our company and its founder,” the company said.

Additional reporting by Coco Feng – SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST