ByteDance Fires 100 Employees, Big Tech Fights Corruption, Key in "Big Exposure"
Big tech's fight against corruption never ends, but rather unfolds like a continuous drama. The latest "plot twist" is ByteDance's September 4 announcement: a total of 100 employees were fired due to violating company regulations, with 18 individuals being formally reported for criminal offenses, damaging the company's interests, and causing serious consequences. Eight individuals are suspected of committing crimes and have been handed over to law enforcement agencies, while their industry associations and privileges have been revoked.
ByteDance has released similar anti-corruption reports consecutively for several quarters. Data shows that in 2024, ByteDance fired a total of 353 employees for violating regulations, with 39 individuals being handed over to law enforcement agencies to pursue criminal charges.
This is not an isolated case. According to media reports, Tencent has released annual anti- fraud investigation reports for the past six years, with a total of over 390 cases involving violations of "high-pressure lines" and 550 employees being fired. JD.com investigated corruption cases in 2024, resulting in 221 instances, including commercial bribery (191) and official abuse (30).
As the saying goes, "family scandals should not be broadcasted." Many internet giants have voluntarily reported their own scandals, showing their determination to fight corruption.
However, this type of "public declaration" of big tech's anti-corruption efforts still has two problems: first, it is an internal audit that only focuses on itself; second, the process is not transparent enough. More importantly, despite the annual reports, the number and severity of cases have not decreased, leading to a question: Have big tech companies really eliminated the root causes of corruption?
Why are corruption problems in big tech so prominent? The root cause lies in "big." Big tech's notion of "big" is often built on resources, which creates a high wall. Platform-based enterprises leverage economies of scale to convert public domain traffic, data, and access qualifications into scarce and valuable resources.
Big tech can promote anti-corruption efforts by opening up. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Through "big exposure," we can penetrate the space for seeking power and let black market transactions have nowhere to hide.
"Big exposure" requires opening up the industrial chain, breaking down closed loops, and introducing competitive mechanisms.
After years of development, some big tech companies have formed a vast and complete ecosystem, with various supporting systems in place. Various internal transactions and self-sustaining cycles frequently occur, becoming breeding grounds for corruption. For example, Feng, who was responsible for service provider approval and policy execution at Kuaishou, used program loopholes and data breaches to generate profits of over 1.4 billion yuan. In such cases, anti-corruption efforts need to break through closed loops and introduce competitive mechanisms to control the flow of resources.
"Big exposure" requires opening up information release, improving tendering mechanisms.
The procurement process has always been a high-risk area for big tech. Due to the lack of a perfect tendering mechanism, various "encirclement" and "串标" schemes have repeatedly occurred. For example, three former executives at Ele.me, including Han, used their positions to help multiple suppliers obtain logistics distribution business qualifications and collect bribes exceeding 40 million yuan.
To avoid such situations, big tech needs to promote transparency in key business areas, including tendering information, evaluation standards, partner qualifications, and bid results. The company should let power operate under the sun, with every decision-making process being traceable, auditable, and accountable.
"Big exposure" requires building a multi-faceted supervision system to break down the "island effect" of enterprise anti-corruption efforts.
Currently, internet giants have already established powerful internal supervision mechanisms. For example, Alibaba has set up an Integrity Department. Ma Yun said, "Alibaba's entire team can be checked by the Integrity Department, including myself." Tencent has established a Fraud Investigation Department, ByteDance has set up an Enterprise Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee, Meituan has the "Heavy Case Six Units," Baidu has a Professional Ethics Committee, and JD.com has an Internal Control and Compliance Department.
Despite these institutions being high-ranking within the company, they are not necessarily effective in achieving the goal of preventing corruption. For example, Wang, a low-level employee at Alibaba's e-commerce platform, was responsible for initial review of furniture store applications and used unauthorized approval to generate profits exceeding 92 million yuan. This is an instance of internal supervision failure. Therefore, big tech needs to establish a multi-faceted supervision system, including introducing professional third-party auditing, advancing judicial intervention, and creating channels for employee and public reporting.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. As the industrial chain becomes more marketized, tendering processes become more transparent, and supervision bodies become more diverse, the space for seeking power will naturally shrink, and big tech's anti-corruption efforts can achieve greater results.
Reporter: Fu Kyou
Daily Economic News