<story><title>Chinese Cash Is Suddenly Toxic in Silicon Valley, Following U.S. Pressure</title><url>https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-cash-is-suddenly-toxic-in-silicon-valley-following-u-s-pressure-campaign-11560263302</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dcolkitt</author><text>Not that this isn&amp;#x27;t a valid concern, but is there really any evidence that this is happening in Silicon Valley? Hong Kong&amp;#x27;s a different matter because of just how comparatively dominating and close by the mainland Chinese market is compared to the tiny city state.&lt;p&gt;But in the US tech sector, the Chinese market is at best an after-thought. We&amp;#x27;re also living through probably the strongest seller&amp;#x27;s market in history when it comes to venture funding. My guess is that in most situations if a fund like Tencent tried to force an Internet startup to censor their content, they&amp;#x27;d get laughed in the face as the founders just walked next door to the next VC firm on Sand Hill Road.&lt;p&gt;(Disclaimer: I&amp;#x27;m not a SV insider by any stretch. So take these speculations on my part with a big grain of salt...)</text></item><item><author>surge</author><text>Chinese investment means increased pressure on tech oligopolies* to increase censorship of media critical of China. They&amp;#x27;ve been branching out to increase soft influence, keep news sites and Olympic committee from recognizing Taiwan as a separate nation. Then there&amp;#x27;s what is currently going on in Hong Kong. Chinese investor cash is effectively Chinese government investment. It&amp;#x27;s not a good thing.&lt;p&gt;*edit</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cwkoss</author><text>A reddit user from Hong Kong was recently banned from the &amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;pics&amp;#x2F; subreddit for posting about their support for the Hong Kong protests against&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;chinareddits&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;bz177v&amp;#x2F;got_banned_in_rpics_after_receiving_6_awards_in_a&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;chinareddits&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;bz177v&amp;#x2F;got_ba...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tencent recently invested in Reddit.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.abc.net.au&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;2019-02-11&amp;#x2F;reddit-users-revolt-on-news-of-chinese-investment&amp;#x2F;10798584&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.abc.net.au&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;2019-02-11&amp;#x2F;reddit-users-revolt-o...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Chinese Cash Is Suddenly Toxic in Silicon Valley, Following U.S. Pressure</title><url>https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-cash-is-suddenly-toxic-in-silicon-valley-following-u-s-pressure-campaign-11560263302</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dcolkitt</author><text>Not that this isn&amp;#x27;t a valid concern, but is there really any evidence that this is happening in Silicon Valley? Hong Kong&amp;#x27;s a different matter because of just how comparatively dominating and close by the mainland Chinese market is compared to the tiny city state.&lt;p&gt;But in the US tech sector, the Chinese market is at best an after-thought. We&amp;#x27;re also living through probably the strongest seller&amp;#x27;s market in history when it comes to venture funding. My guess is that in most situations if a fund like Tencent tried to force an Internet startup to censor their content, they&amp;#x27;d get laughed in the face as the founders just walked next door to the next VC firm on Sand Hill Road.&lt;p&gt;(Disclaimer: I&amp;#x27;m not a SV insider by any stretch. So take these speculations on my part with a big grain of salt...)</text></item><item><author>surge</author><text>Chinese investment means increased pressure on tech oligopolies* to increase censorship of media critical of China. They&amp;#x27;ve been branching out to increase soft influence, keep news sites and Olympic committee from recognizing Taiwan as a separate nation. Then there&amp;#x27;s what is currently going on in Hong Kong. Chinese investor cash is effectively Chinese government investment. It&amp;#x27;s not a good thing.&lt;p&gt;*edit</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>gowld</author><text>&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pcgamer.com&amp;#x2F;tencent-imposes-new-regulations-on-streamers-in-china&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pcgamer.com&amp;#x2F;tencent-imposes-new-regulations-on-s...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Tencent imposes new regulations on streamers in China&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Yes, these regulations are currently China-specific, but (1) that&amp;#x27;s bad enough itself, (2) Companies may apply  censorship worldwide as a an engineering-simplification measure.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; they&amp;#x27;d get laughed in the face as the founders just walked next door to the next VC firm on Sand Hill Road.&lt;p&gt;Money talks, and Tencent and other Chinese companies have a lot. Once they&amp;#x27;ve bought their stake,  they can&amp;#x27;t be simply laughed off.</text></comment>