In the live streaming rooms and short videos on platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou in mainland China, there is an abundance of confusing jargon. The forms of this jargon are diverse, including using alternative words to replace certain terms, such as using “米” to represent money, “8+1” for alcohol, “+V” for adding on WeChat…
Why can’t these hosts and creators speak properly? According to a report by the China Fortune Media on January 26, Joey, former Douyin e-commerce operator and founder of Beyond the White Cloud Media, mentioned that this jargon is mainly to avoid punishment or restriction by platforms due to violations.
He explained that platforms mainly restrict content related to the “Advertising Law,” such as extreme words like “most,” “number one,” “absolute,” efficacy terms like “whitening,” “blemish removal,” and other false advertising-related content. Because many operators lack basic skills, they are unsure which words are restricted and which are not, leading them to scare themselves and change even non-prohibited words, like changing “money” to “米,” “live streaming room” to “啵啵 room,” and so on.
On analysis, it is found that jargon frequently appears in live streams and short videos selling goods or for advertising marketing. Firstly, there is the “variant” of absolute terms, as stipulated by the “Advertising Law,” which prohibits using terms like “national level,” “top level,” “best,” etc. This provision is known as the absolute term clause, and platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou specify in their rules center to prohibit the exaggerated or misleading use of extreme words for product promotion.
Under such rules, creators on platforms like Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu have compiled a list of prohibited terms and provided corresponding alternative words. For instance, using “頭部/T.O.P1” in place of “number one,” “瑤瑤 leading” instead of “global/national leading,” “top/luxury level” instead of “world-class/highest level,” “floor price/ice point price” instead of “cheapest,” “top to bottom” instead of “historically the most,” “99+1” instead of “100%,” and so on.
In cosmetic marketing, terms like “anti-aging,” “anti-wrinkle,” “whitening,” “acne removal” are commonly used, hence jargon like “k aging,” “k wrinkle/k sagging,” “米 white,” “reduce bags” appear. Additionally, terms like “sensitive skin,” “melanin spots,” “inflammation” are replaced with “sensitive skin,” “black spots,” and “inflammation.”
Names of other platforms are also often replaced with jargon, such as “某寶” (Taobao), “某東” (JD.com), “拼夕夕” (Pinduoduo), “某書” (Xiaohongshu), “dy” (Douyin), “ks” (Kuaishou), and symbols representing WeChat like private domain, green bubbles, earth, etc. The reason behind this is that creators fear mentioning other platforms by their actual names might lead to restrictions due to diversion of traffic.
In July 2022, Douyin announced that a few users were using non-standard expressions out of fear of being “reviewed” or “punished” by the platform.
However, many people continue to use this “jargon.” Douyin stated that this might be because hosts have triggered violations in other scenarios and mistakenly thought that mentioning certain sensitive words led to the violation, which eventually escalated into the proliferation of these synonymous terms.
In reality, due to the Chinese Communist Party’s continuous strengthening of speech control in recent years, Chinese netizens resort to using misspelled words, homonyms, and other methods to spread political or hot topics that the officialdom does not want to see.
Last year, the CCP’s Cyberspace Administration of China included “Regulating the Use of Language on the Internet” in a special action, focusing on rectifying the spreading of attacks, spoofs, incitements, opposing information through intentional use of misspelled words, abuse of homonyms, fabricating jargon, etc.
After enduring the impact of three years of the pandemic, the Chinese economy has continued to decline. In 2023, the CCP intensified control over negative economic information, with “stock market compositions” posted by netizens being a major target, leading to the closure of numerous related social media accounts.