Chinese social media platform Weibo removes fake images showing a rapidly ageing Tencent founder Pony Ma

Chinese social media platform Weibo has deleted a number of accounts publishing and spreading a retouched photo of a grey-haired and wrinkle-faced Pony Ma Huateng, Tencent Holdings’ founder and CEO, in the latest example of efforts to protect the country’s top entrepreneurs from online abuse.

“A small number of users posted and hyped up false information about companies and entrepreneurs, and even deliberately spread rumours through Photoshopped pictures,” Weibo said in a statement.

These “rumour-mongering” behaviours have infringed the legal rights of enterprises and entrepreneurs, and damaged the online environment for businesses, Weibo said.

The fake photos, which showed Ma looking much older than his real age of 52 and tried to suggest that he had aged rapidly due to pressure, drew attention as he and other Chinese tech founders have rarely appeared in public in recent years.

The latest glimpse of Ma in public was on March 22, when state television showed him attending an All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce meeting chaired by Shi Taifeng, the head of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. In that video clip, Ma has black hair and looks to be in good health.

Chinese entrepreneurs are frequent subjects of speculation and verbal abuse on domestic social media.

Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Chinese mineral water giant Nongfu Spring and China’s richest man, was recently targeted by online trolls accusing him of not being patriotic enough.

Computer giant Lenovo Group and its founder Liu Chuanzhi once suffered months of unsubstantiated attacks made by ultra-left influencer Sima Nan, claiming that the company siphoned off state assets, before authorities shut down Sima’s social media accounts.

Unlike some of their Western counterparts who regularly attend public events and share personal updates on social media, Chinese tech entrepreneurs have largely avoided the limelight in the past several years.

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Weibo has vowed to follow calls by the Chinese internet watchdog to crack down more forcefully against false information and extortion against enterprises, urging users to be more rational and report problematic content.

Chinese regulators have stepped up scrutiny of online information targeting domestic entrepreneurs, as Beijing looks to restore confidence in the private sector to revive a sluggish economy after the pandemic.

“Well-known entrepreneurs are increasingly facing challenges on highly developed social media networks, with netizens targeting their personal histories and company products,” said Zhang Yi, chief executive of Chinese consultancy firm iiMedia Research. “They can only rely on regulations that are cracking down on similar behaviours.”