(Yicai) Aug. 13 -- Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, has cracked down on 125 internal violations, including commercial bribery, fraud, and embezzlement, in the first half of this year, firing 88 employees, with 17 being prosecuted for suspected crimes.

The 17 workers were involved in eight cases, with three in Douyin's life service department, getting illegal payments from external merchants to provide improper assistance, the short video platform announced yesterday. E-commerce, research and development, and sales department employees were involved in the other cases, it added.

Douyin set up its life service business in 2021 to attract users to buy coupons from catering and entertainment merchants via short videos and livestreams and use them at their stores. The relevant transaction volume surged 256 percent last year from 2022, according to data from the firm.

Effective compliance systems must be formed and an environment of professional integrity must be cultivated to implement anti-corruption systems and fundamentally solve this problem at internet companies, Jiang Xianliang, a senior partner of Beijing Yinghe Law Firm, told Yicai.

Alibaba Group Holding led Chinese internet firms' anti-corruption efforts by establishing such a department in 2009. Tencent Holdings, Baidu, and ByteDance, owner of Douyin, have also set up anti-corruption departments since.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev