Technology titans trade tales of ‘black ops’
Two domestic technology companies – Tencent and Toutiao – have both made claims that certain parties are conducting “black operations” against them on social media. The companies said on Monday they have submitted evidence to police about these activities.
In a statement on its Weibo account, Tencent claimed that it has suffered “constant, intensive and unconventional malicious attacks from ‘black PR’” operatives, who are using unsubstantiated information and rumors to tarnish Tencent and the broader internet industry. The company has reported some evidence of these “black operations” to security officials.
One supposed example of the “black operations” involves an article published by ithard.com. The article cited experts as saying that China should investigate the internet gaming sector to see who is making money from the “bloody debt of teen internet addicts.” The publisher’s comment was deleted yet its snapshot still existed as of press time.
In a separate Weibo post, Tencent said that some individuals involved in the PR attack have been detained, while other suspects have fled abroad.
Also on Monday, Toutiao claimed in its WeChat that it has experienced large-scale, organized attacks from “black PR” operatives, and it has reported the case to police.
“From April 3 to June 14, more than 12,000 articles have been published on WeChat public account platform, slandering and defaming Jinri Toutiao and [affiliate short video app] Tik Tok. After investigating, we identified companies that created and disseminated these articles.”
Toutiao presented a screen capture allegedly showing that an employee of a Beijing-based PR company surnamed Wu was communicating with an owner of a WeChat public account to arrange the publication of negative articles about Toutiao via instant messaging.
The employee, in another social networking app, introduced herself as a public relations representative of QQ Video and Sogou.
In recent months, conflicts between Tencent and Toutiao have escalated, and the companies have sued each other for defamation and unfair competition.