Submission 18,178

About

Tencent is a Chinese technology conglomerate known for its investment in various businesses related to online games, including League of Legends, Fornite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Additionally, the firm controls businesses in industries related to various other internet services, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

History

On November 11th, 1998, Tencent was founded in China by Ma Huateng, Zhang Zhidong, Xu Chenye, Chen Yidan and Zeng Liqing. In 2004, Tencent expanding its services to include online gaming and began licensing games several years later. In February 2011, Tencent purchased majority equity in the League of Legends developer Riot Games and a minority in Epic Games several years later. In 2015, Tencent's online bank WeBank was created. In April 2017, the company announced WeGame as its first gaming platform. In November that year, Tencent gained the rights to run a Chinese version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. On December 7th, 2017, the CNBC International YouTube channel uploaded an explainer video about Tencent (shown below).

Controversies

On August 9th, 2017, reports began circulating that Tencent was testing a social credit system on their Chinese chat application QQ.^[2]

Reddit Investment

On February 5th, 2019, TechCrunch reported that Reddit was aiming to raise upwards of $150 million in a Series D fundraising round led by Tencent with a pre-money valuation of $2.7 billion. On February 8th, Redditor FreeSpeechWarrior submitted a post about Tencent's investment in Reddit along with the "Tank Man" photograph from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests to /r/pics^[1] (shown below). Within four days, the post gathered upwards of 200,000 points (86% upvoted) and 6,400 comments. That day, Redditor hockeyjmac posted a graphic photograph of dead demonstrators at the Tiananmen Square protests to /r/pics.^[3]

Given that reddit just took a $150 million investment from a Chinese censorship powerhouse, I thought it would be nice to post this picture of Tank Man" at Tienanmen Square before our new glorious overlords decide we cannot post it anymore. Gi.redd.it) submitted 4 days ago by FreeSpeechWarrior S5634 16 6477 comments share save hide give award report crosspost hide all child comments

Meanwhile, posts featuring the character Winnie the Pooh began reaching the front page of various subreddits, mocking China's censorship of the character due to jokes about Chinese president Xi Jinping (shown below).^[4]

$150 MILLION INTO REDDIT Welcome to Reddit, China. i.redd.it/h5euiw... r/AdviceAnimals Posted by u/TravelinMan4 2 days ago 52.4k 726 Comments ShareSave Give Award .. WHAT IFI TOLD YOU To Reddit i.redd.it/kbzonk.. r/AdviceAnimals Posted by u/dariusz2k 1 day ago Kצ1.3- k Comments Share Save O 31.6k Give Award . Reddit is now funded by Chinese investors, so let's remember that President Xi Jinping is so insecure in a meme that he banned Winnie the Pooh nationwide. .redd.it/qh68mh… r/pics Posted by u/kproxurworld 1 day ago Kצ 719- Comments Share Save O 24.8k Give Award [Concept ] Country Wrap i.redd.it/ebwhkt... SUGGESTION r/FortNiteBR Posted by u/astronomixfnbr Cobalt 11 days ago S Kצ 460- Comments Share Save O Country Wrap Selectable Styles 9.7k Give Award . r Nothing happened i.redd.it/sulrhk... $16e12 EN AN MEN QUARE 24.1khesimpsons Posted by u/brikes 2 days ago2 OTHING HAPPENE Kצ 184- Comments Share Save O In the spirit of sharing things on reddit which may soon be censored, just a reminder that Winnie the Pooh is censored due to r/pics Posted by u/von_Bob 2 days ago 22 Give Award .. 45.6k his likeness to Xi Jinping. i.redd.it/8nk9c2... E 496 Comments ShareSave Give Award. Since Reddit took a $150 million investment from Chinese Censorship company Tencent, please welcome our leader President Xi. i.redd.it/a3gdem... r/pics Posted by u/LemonberryTea 2 days ago S3 44.2k

On February 11th, an article titled "What's going on with China & Big Tech?" was published on Medium,^[5] which discussed Chinese investment in Reddit and Discord in the context of censorship on the platforms.