Music streaming app NetEase to step up content moderation after trolls target depressed people during pandemic
- The phenomenon sparked a new meme dubbed NetEmo, which took off after some users poked fun at depressed people
- Launched by internet company and game giant NetEase in 2013, NetEase Cloud Music has more than 800 million registered users and 30 million tracks
The pandemic getting you down? China’s leading music streaming app NetEase offers music for all moods, but some listeners are apparently letting their emotions go a bit too far – prompting the platform to step in.
NetEase said it will take measures to regulate comments posted on its platform after receiving criticism that the app had become too “depressing”.
Under Adele’s hit Someone Like You – a song about coming to terms with a broken relationship – one listener commented: “Adele lost her weight but I lost my happiness”.
Another listener, posting under a song called Melancholy by artist White Cherry, wrote: “When we broke up, she took all my n95 masks”, generating more than 2,000 likes
“2020 had a difficult start and people’s sorrow and anxiety in life need an outlet. NetEase Cloud Music, as a music community that connects people, has become everyone’s tree hole for their emotions,” the company said in a statement on Monday.
