ByteDance Photo: VCG

ByteDance, TikTok's parent firm, unveiled a report on the handling of internal violations in the third quarter of 2025, the Beijing News reported on Thursday.

The bulletin, issued internally on Thursday in ByteDance's Corporate Discipline and Professional Ethics Committee report, highlighted the company's latest efforts to curb misconduct. 

A total of 120 employees were fired for violating the company's red line, as part of an internal crackdown on misconduct related to breaching company rules and confidentiality, with 28 individuals named publicly for serious violations.

According to the bulletin, 28 were publicly named; 14 of the named employees were placed under criminal investigation by judicial authorities, and the company both informed an industry alliance of their information and cancelled their restricted stock units (RSUs). Additionally, four employees, due to severe violations, were either reported to industry alliances or had their RSUs revoked, according to the Beijing News report.

Notably, the bulletin also broadened the categories of misconduct it chose to make public, explicitly citing "leaking internal confidential information" and "fabricating and publishing false information," said the Beijing News report.

The bulletin gave two specific examples: a former employee who posted fabricated rumors about company layoffs and disguised pay cuts on social media platform Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, creating significant misunderstanding on external platforms and harming the company's reputation; and another former employee who repeatedly disclosed colleagues' job grades and work histories on the professional networking platform Maimai while inventing inaccurate personnel changes. Both were dismissed for their social-media activity.

Beyond these two cases, the committee said multiple current and former employees engaged in other social-media-related violations that produced negative effects. Examples enumerated in the report include: posting work-related content online to attract followers and monetize by offering paid interview coaching; spreading false information about employee benefits to attract traffic and accept advertising; and, while employed, contracting with multi-channel networks to run social accounts that published unauthorized footage from work sites and accepted advertising revenue.

The company stated it has disciplined the implicated current employees and reserves the right to pursue legal action against former employees who engaged in misconduct. 

Global Times