China Freezes Out Tencent, Toutiao Apps as Crackdown Widens
- Toutiao, Tencent, Netease apps were among those targeted
- Regulators order shutdown of one of Toutiao’s online apps
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China has ordered one of the country’s fastest-growing internet startups, Beijing Bytedance Technology Co., to shut a popular joke-sharing app and delete its WeChat social media account, part of a resurgent effort to clean up online content.
Beijing’s latest campaign to sterilize the internet began Monday when it demanded a halt to downloads of a quartet of news apps run by Bytedance -- known commonly by its main app, Toutiao -- and Tencent Holdings Ltd., among others. Then came an order to shut Toutiao’s “Neihan Duanzi,” a service through which users share often ribald jokes, videos and comedic skits.