On September 20, 2026, Beijing time, China Digital Times (@CDT) published a report revealing the list of sensitive words used by ByteDance content moderators. The lexicon contains 5,241 sensitive words, covering political figures and their family members, historical and political events, firearms and other prohibited weapons, as well as various scandals and controversial incidents, exposing the platform's strict internal content control mechanism.
Evidence EVIDENCE
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@CDT
2026-10-13 21:58 · MiniTrue: ByteDance Censors’ List of 5,241 Sensitive Terms Includes references to political figures and their family members, historical and political events, guns and other banned weapons, scandals a…
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@CDT
2026-10-13 21:59 · "This leaked trove reveals ByteDance's internal content-review mechanisms as they stood around 2020: regulatory requirements from higher-level authorities [serve as] the basis for a lexicon of sensiti…
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Context CONTEXT
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This event
China Digital Times Discloses ByteDance Censorship Lexicon of Over 5,000 Sensitive Words
2026.09.20 · Verified
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