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The reasons for the blocks were unknown, but
the move also comes after remarks by U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo that the United States is "certainly looking at"
banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok.
South Korea's communications regulator on Wednesday fined TikTok
Pte Ltd, the publisher of the app, 186 million won ($154,320)
for collecting personal information of children under 14 years
of age without consent from guardians and failing to disclose or
notify when sending personal information overseas.
TikTok was required to submit voluntary preventative measures
within 30 days, and the regulator planned to continue
discussions with TikTok on information security issues, a Korea
Communications Commission official said.
Accounts of K-Pop stars such as Rain, TWICE, Mamamoo and HyunA
were blocked from view on Douyin as of Friday.
Douyin and TikTok operated independently and the accounts were
working normally on TikTok, a TikTok spokeswoman said.
Representatives for Douyin did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. TikTok and Douyin are both owned by Chinese
company ByteDance.
The Chinese ownership of TikTok, among the fastest growing
digital platforms ever, has come under heavy scrutiny on issues
including its handling of user data. India banned TikTok and
other Chinese apps in June. Douyin is unavailable on app stores
outside of mainland China.
ByteDance has quietly made a series of moves in recent months to
transfer global decision-making and research capabilities out of
China, Reuters reported in May.
The K-pop stars' management agencies did not comment.
China accumulated 196.6 million downloads of Douyin as of the
first quarter, or 9.7% of more than 2 billion TikTok downloads
in total, according to data from industry site Sensor Tower.
K-Pop concerts, tourism and South Korean businesses were hit
hard by a Chinese boycott in 2017 after Seoul deployed a U.S-made
missile defence system despite Beijing's objections.
Hopes of a thaw in relations grew earlier this year amid plans
for a possible visit to Seoul by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee in Seoul and Brenda Goh in Shanghai;
Additional Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Stephen
Coates)
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