ByteDance confirms death of employee at center of viral social media post

Update (Feb. 24, 11:30 a.m. SGT): This article was updated to include the latest news about the ByteDance employee.

TikTok owner ByteDance has confirmed the death of a 28-year-old employee who was the subject of a viral social media post accusing the company of not giving him immediate medical attention.

“We’re extremely saddened by the passing of our colleague and extend our deepest condolences to our colleague’s family and friends. We will do our utmost to support our colleague’s family,” said ByteDance in a statement.

The firm earlier said that an employee “behaved abnormally” at the office gym and was receiving treatment in a hospital, in response to a viral post about the sudden demise of one of its employees.

A post by the ByteDance employee’s wife on job information-sharing platform Maimai went viral in China on Tuesday. She said that ByteDance didn’t provide immediate help and that her husband had to call her when he was in the company building. She added that her husband frequently worked overtime.

However, ByteDance said that the engineer felt dizzy after working out and vomited while waiting for medical assistance. The firm also mentioned security personnel giving CPR to the employee before an ambulance arrived.

Chinese tech companies have been battling allegations of its “996 culture” – working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week – after reports of several deaths across different firms.

Earlier this month, a 25-year-old content moderator for video streaming firm Bilibili died while on duty during a public holiday. In January last year, social commerce platform Pinduoduo reported two deaths among its employees.

In August 2021, China’s supreme court said that the 996 work culture is against labor laws.