Tencent Just Angered the Public for Unjust Investment

Tencent recently received furious criticism by netizens after investing 30 million yuan in Chaping, an infamous media company due to its plagiarism history.

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Chaping, which literally means giving negative reviews or bad comments in Chinese, was originally a personal media account focused on tech news and gadget reviews. As the account grossed a following of 5 million, Tencent Open Platform Interest-based Content (TOPIC) Fund bought it in fierce content competition with Toutiao.

Netizens’ anger is rooted in the fact that Chaping does not set a good example for a media company. Introducing itself as “debug the world,” Chaping has built no professional reputation in the tech media business. It has been notably plagiarizing other creators’ content, which has angered many.

Adding more salt to the situation, Zhang Jun, the PR officer of Tencent, said in his Weibo post that people should not take the attitudes of Tencent from one investment, which is probably the lamest excuse one could think of. Since then, more open fire has been directed at Tencent for its imprudent business practice.