6 ms·

Not that this isn't a valid concern, but is there really any evidence that this is happening in Silicon Valley? Hong Kong's a different matter because of just h

Not that this isn't a valid concern, but is there really any evidence that this is happening in Silicon Valley? Hong Kong's a different matter because of just how comparatively dominating and close by the mainland Chinese market is compared to the tiny city state. But in the US tech sector, the Chinese market is at best an after-thought. We're also living through probably the strongest seller'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'd get laughed in the face as the founders just walked next door to the next VC firm on Sand Hill Road. (Disclaimer: I'm not a SV insider by any stretch. So take these speculations on my part with a big grain of salt...)

ben_jones 7y ago
As someone who just spends a lot of time in engineering slack channels, comments seem to alternate every other day on how hard or how easy it is to raise money. I've been through fund raising once (~5 years ago) as a small-time founder and can't help but believe the reality is somewhere in between gold-rush and desert.
- driverdan 7y ago
  If you're an SV sweetheart it's easy. Otherwise it depends on the business.
- thwythwy 7y ago
  are these public channels?
  - ben_jones 7y ago
    Gophers, hangops, Google Cloud Platform, to name a few.
fragmede 7y ago
(I don't have access to the actual article due to WSJ paywall.) > Tencent tried to force an Internet startup to censor their content I assume you are referring to Tencent's recent investment in popular social media site Reddit, during their $300mm series D, at a $3B valuation, so they've already taken the money, whether they will laugh across across sand hill road is another question. There is not yet direct evidence, of such censorship having yet occurred, but once it does happen, could any outsiders prove censorship beyond a shadow of a doubt? Give it time, first, for corporate censorship to become normalized on the English areas of the site, before pro-Hong Kong viewpoints become demonized, and Chinese mainland views propagate. Like, honestly, weird memes of shirtless Putin on horseback. This is coming around especially as censorship in the US is also slowly becoming normalized. Try saying the phrase global climate change/warming as a government scientist. And then watch the people that try to justify it.
cwkoss 7y ago
A reddit user from Hong Kong was recently banned from the /r/pics/ subreddit for posting about their support for the Hong Kong protests against https://www.reddit.com/r/chinareddits/comments/bz177v/got_banned_in_rpics_after_receiving_6_awards_in_a/ https://www.reddit.com/r/chinareddits/comments/bz177v/got_ba... Tencent recently invested in Reddit. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-11/reddit-users-revolt-on-news-of-chinese-investment/10798584 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-11/reddit-users-revolt-o...
- hiram112 7y ago
  Speaking of Reddit, a citizen of Hong Kong had a post this morning make it to the front page giving out a bit of info about the protest. Nearly half the comments were purged by the mods. Reddit had gone down hell in the last few years, but this was something else.
  - ethbro 7y ago
    Aren't all Reddit subs driven by their own moderators? Or are there core subs that are Reddit-moderated? I had a lawyer friend who liked to post in a legal advice sub, moderated by someone in law enforcement, who banned him for posting information about your rights if you're arrested.
    - cwkoss 7y ago
      I suspect that Reddit intentionally keeps the moderators of core subs a group of "normal users" (who will follow any requests by the admins) as a level of obfuscation for any corporate-driven censorship or vote-tampering.
      - ethbro 7y ago
        And I suspect there's a secret cabal of mole-men (and -women) who are selecting presidential candidates for the Democratic primaries. Are either of these claims falsifiable?
gowld 7y ago
https://www.pcgamer.com/tencent-imposes-new-regulations-on-streamers-in-china/ https://www.pcgamer.com/tencent-imposes-new-regulations-on-s... "Tencent imposes new regulations on streamers in China" Yes, these regulations are currently China-specific, but (1) that's bad enough itself, (2) Companies may apply censorship worldwide as a an engineering-simplification measure. > they'd get laughed in the face as the founders just walked next door to the next VC firm on Sand Hill Road. Money talks, and Tencent and other Chinese companies have a lot. Once they've bought their stake, they can't be simply laughed off.
sonnyblarney 7y ago
" they'd get laughed in the face as the founders just walked next door to the next VC firm on Sand Hill Road." I don't think it's so easy, because the issue wouldn't come up during funding, it'd happen later. Also - the vast majoriy of companies do not 'waltz into VC to raise money'. Consider that if they are taking Chinese money, it might be a sign they had difficulty with American firms, because why would you take money from a super foreign investor if some entity in the Valley would fund you? 'Better terms'? Well, those terms might have 'strings attached'. But I think it's right to point out the possibility that this mightn't be rampant. Maybe it's more common, possibly on a case to case basis, but I don't think startups are acting in the 'strategic interest of Donald Trumps trade war' plan, so to speak.

ben_jones 7y ago

As someone who just spends a lot of time in engineering slack channels, comments seem to alternate every other day on how hard or how easy it is to raise money. I've been through fund raising once (~5 years ago) as a small-time founder and can't help but believe the reality is somewhere in between gold-rush and desert.

driverdan 7y ago
If you're an SV sweetheart it's easy. Otherwise it depends on the business.
thwythwy 7y ago
are these public channels?
- ben_jones 7y ago
  Gophers, hangops, Google Cloud Platform, to name a few.

fragmede 7y ago

(I don't have access to the actual article due to WSJ paywall.) > Tencent tried to force an Internet startup to censor their content I assume you are referring to Tencent's recent investment in popular social media site Reddit, during their $300mm series D, at a $3B valuation, so they've already taken the money, whether they will laugh across across sand hill road is another question. There is not yet direct evidence, of such censorship having yet occurred, but once it does happen, could any outsiders prove censorship beyond a shadow of a doubt? Give it time, first, for corporate censorship to become normalized on the English areas of the site, before pro-Hong Kong viewpoints become demonized, and Chinese mainland views propagate. Like, honestly, weird memes of shirtless Putin on horseback. This is coming around especially as censorship in the US is also slowly becoming normalized. Try saying the phrase global climate change/warming as a government scientist. And then watch the people that try to justify it.

cwkoss 7y ago

A reddit user from Hong Kong was recently banned from the /r/pics/ subreddit for posting about their support for the Hong Kong protests against https://www.reddit.com/r/chinareddits/comments/bz177v/got_banned_in_rpics_after_receiving_6_awards_in_a/ https://www.reddit.com/r/chinareddits/comments/bz177v/got_ba... Tencent recently invested in Reddit. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-11/reddit-users-revolt-on-news-of-chinese-investment/10798584 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-11/reddit-users-revolt-o...

hiram112 7y ago
Speaking of Reddit, a citizen of Hong Kong had a post this morning make it to the front page giving out a bit of info about the protest. Nearly half the comments were purged by the mods. Reddit had gone down hell in the last few years, but this was something else.
- ethbro 7y ago
  Aren't all Reddit subs driven by their own moderators? Or are there core subs that are Reddit-moderated? I had a lawyer friend who liked to post in a legal advice sub, moderated by someone in law enforcement, who banned him for posting information about your rights if you're arrested.
  - cwkoss 7y ago
    I suspect that Reddit intentionally keeps the moderators of core subs a group of "normal users" (who will follow any requests by the admins) as a level of obfuscation for any corporate-driven censorship or vote-tampering.
    - ethbro 7y ago
      And I suspect there's a secret cabal of mole-men (and -women) who are selecting presidential candidates for the Democratic primaries. Are either of these claims falsifiable?

gowld 7y ago

https://www.pcgamer.com/tencent-imposes-new-regulations-on-streamers-in-china/ https://www.pcgamer.com/tencent-imposes-new-regulations-on-s... "Tencent imposes new regulations on streamers in China" Yes, these regulations are currently China-specific, but (1) that's bad enough itself, (2) Companies may apply censorship worldwide as a an engineering-simplification measure. > they'd get laughed in the face as the founders just walked next door to the next VC firm on Sand Hill Road. Money talks, and Tencent and other Chinese companies have a lot. Once they've bought their stake, they can't be simply laughed off.

sonnyblarney 7y ago

" they'd get laughed in the face as the founders just walked next door to the next VC firm on Sand Hill Road." I don't think it's so easy, because the issue wouldn't come up during funding, it'd happen later. Also - the vast majoriy of companies do not 'waltz into VC to raise money'. Consider that if they are taking Chinese money, it might be a sign they had difficulty with American firms, because why would you take money from a super foreign investor if some entity in the Valley would fund you? 'Better terms'? Well, those terms might have 'strings attached'. But I think it's right to point out the possibility that this mightn't be rampant. Maybe it's more common, possibly on a case to case basis, but I don't think startups are acting in the 'strategic interest of Donald Trumps trade war' plan, so to speak.