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Lenovo
ChinaPolitics

When Chinese tech firms like Lenovo get caught in a nationalist social media storm

  • China’s largest PC maker grilled on social media over its sale of state assets, high executive pay and its foreign executives threatening national security
  • Owners of private companies worry they will be the next target of online campaigns, says Beijing researcher

Reading Time:7 minutes
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Illustration: Perry Tse
Jane CaiandFrank Tang

The accusations started in October and gathered steam throughout November into early December.

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In a series of videos published on a range of platforms, social commentator Sima Nan accused Lenovo, China’s largest PC maker, of selling state assets on the cheap.

He also accused the company of paying top executives unreasonably high salaries and threatening national security by having foreign nationals make up more than half its 27 senior executives, among other things.

As the posts rolled in, his following on popular mainland social media platforms Weibo and Bilibili doubled to more than 2 million.

“I’m a Chinese citizen living in the Dongcheng district of Beijing,” Sima, 65, said in his 11th video about Lenovo on December 8. “What I’m concerned about are the concerns of many netizens. Lenovo, could you give us an answer?”

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Sima’s accusations reflect a rising wave of antagonism towards certain private firms, with Lenovo just the latest technology company to be singled out and interrogated in an online campaign.

The open challenge came after Chinese authorities this year introduced a spate of radical policies to tighten its grip on technology firms. It was also part of a broader push from the top setting the country on the course for “common prosperity”, a new priority of the Communist Party as it aims to rule China for the next 100 years and beyond.
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