- Didi’s Jean Liu and Lenovo’s Liu Chuanzhi each set older posts on their Weibo accounts to personal.
- Different Chinese language tech bigwigs are retreating from the highlight amid Beijing’s tech crackdown.
- Didi has come beneath hearth from Chinese language and American regulators for its botched itemizing in New York.
Two extra prime executives at a few of China’s largest tech firms have gone into hibernation on the nation’s Twitter-like platform Weibo. They’re the most recent in an inventory of Chinese language tech moguls who’ve stepped again from social media.
Through the latest five-day Labor Day vacation in China, Weibo customers seen that Jean Liu, president of ride-hailing big Didi Chuxing, set posts on her Weibo account which can be greater than six months outdated as non-public. Her father, Liu Chuanzhi, who based laptop maker Lenovo, did the identical to his account.
However as a result of neither of them has posted something prior to now six months, their accounts seem as empty pages.
To make sure, the Lius’ Weibo accounts are nonetheless energetic. Jean Liu has nearly 10.4 million followers on her Weibo account, whereas her father has about 878,000.
The youthful Liu, a former Goldman Sachs govt who was usually seen as Didi’s public ambassador, used Weibo to handle customers’ complaints and feedback concerning the firm, per a report from Monetary Instances.
Whereas the Lius gave no motive for going non-public, customers had been fast to imagine they determined to take action to keep away from Beijing’s elevated scrutiny on the tech sector.
“At this second it is best to take down your flags and quiet your drums. Whenever you’re quiet, all can be effectively,” a Weibo mentioned in a self-penned poem titled “Liu Chuanzhi and Jean Liu clearing their Weibo accounts: Why?”
Didi and Lenovo didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s requests for remark.
China’s tech founders and CEOs, inspired by the successes of their firms, have prior to now been outspoken on social media platforms. Many relied on well-liked platforms corresponding to Weibo to work together with their followers; some 573 million customers use Weibo each month on common.
However amid a sweeping crackdown by China’s authorities on its
expertise sector
, a lot of China’s tech bigwigs have retreated from the general public highlight.
Each Zhang Yiming, who based TikTok’s proprietor ByteDance, and food-delivery app Meituan’s Wang Xing have set their accounts to personal on Weibo. E-commerce big Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma final used the platform in October 2020.
Didi is going through regulatory scrutiny from China and the US.
Experience hailing app Didi, which has usually been in comparison with Uber, has come beneath hearth for latest controversies relating to its itemizing in New York. Final yr, Chinese language regulators needed Didi to delay its itemizing till after they’ve reviewed its knowledge practices. Didi went forward and listed in June, drawing the ire of Beijing.
In December, Didi bowed to months of stress from the Chinese language authorities and mentioned it might delist from the New York Inventory Trade and checklist in Hong Kong as a substitute. It is planning to let shareholders vote on this resolution later this month.
This week, Didi revealed that it is going through extra stress from the US Securities and Trade Fee relating to its botched itemizing. “After our preliminary public providing in the USA, the SEC contacted us and made inquiries in relation to the providing,” it mentioned in its annual report.
