Is TikTok being censored?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2019

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The app best known for short, funny videos that have made it the meme engine of the internet found itself hosting a different kind of viral video. Feroza Aziz, a teenager from New Jersey, posted what looked like a makeup tutorial but was actually trying to raise awareness of the detention of China’s Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province. When she woke up her account was suspended. TikTok says it didn’t censor her content, but as Karishma Vaswani tells us, the company is walking a difficult line trying to keep people happy in both China and the rest of the world. We also hear from Vicky Xu, a researcher who uses TikTok to find out more about Xinjiang.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:06.0	Hello, I'm Asma Meir.
0:07.5	Before you listen to your podcast,
0:09.2	I'd like to remind you about the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal, which may be as familiar to you as Carols and Christmas
0:15.3	Crackers. Over its long history, Radio 4 listeners have supported St Martin in the fields
0:21.2	to provide practical help and support to thousands of people so that they can leave
0:26.0	homelessness behind. Many people for many reasons find themselves a long way from home.
0:32.1	Their journey home can start anytime and anywhere.
0:35.2	It can start with a cup of tea and someone listening. It can start with a deposit for a
0:40.5	room in a house. Please support the BBC Radio 4 Christmas appeal with St Martin in the fields
0:46.4	by donating online on the Radio 4 website. Whether you're a long standing donor or this is your first year, thank you. Home starts here.
0:56.0	Hello, I'm Matthew Price. Welcome to Beyond Today from BBC Radio 4.
1:02.0	Every day we ask one big question about why to Beyond Today, today from BBC Radio 4.
1:03.0	Every day we ask one big question about one big story.
1:06.0	Today is Tikic-Toc being censored.
1:15.0	Now Tik-Toc being censored.
1:20.0	Now Tik-Toc's not just a lot of fun. It's also a massive Chinese tech success story.
1:28.0	The first time an app from a Chinese company has gone properly global. It's been downloaded more than 750 million
1:37.1	times this year alone. More than Facebook, more than Snapchat, Insta and YouTube. And that makes its owners a lot of money, but it also gives
1:46.0	them a problem. And it turns out that problem is going to be really hard for them to sort out.
1:50.8	We're used to the idea that social media is a place where you are free to express
1:55.2	yourself. That's Tik-Tok's attraction. But China, where Tik-Tok is from, is one of those countries which
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.