Keep your Alibaba criticism to yourself, or you might get a visit from the boys in blue. According to an article on Caixin, Hangzhou's police have essentially become Jack Ma's personal army. (Although, we'll just say for the record, we bet that army is outfitted with fantastic goods at reasonable prices.)
The story comes from Xiang Dongshun, a man who works at a tech company in Shenzhen. Xiang posted some articles online about Alibaba's ongoing issues with the Chinese government over Taobao's stocking of counterfeit products - a case which, for those in the tech industry, is pretty common knowledge.
After posting his little essays, however, Xiang was visited by three plainclothes cops who took him from his offices. The policemen interrogated him for hours, questioning why he was posting negative news about Alibaba and criticizing Taobao. They eventually let him go, but not until trying to force him (somehow) not to post on the topic any more.
"Do you have any idea who is behind Alibaba?" the policemen allegedly asked. Well, we would have originally guessed Jack Ma, but now we're leaning towards Vito Corleone.
Following his release, Xiang posted an article about his arrest on WeChat, and followed up with the Shenzhen police. The Shenzhen cops told him that the policemen who detained him had come from Hangzhou, the site of the Alibaba HQ. (Which, until now, we did not picture located in a model of Jack Ma's head carved into the side of a volcano, but now the mental image has stuck.)
Alibaba has not yet responded to the Caixin story. The fact that the report is entirely reliant on one source means, of course, that it could be entirely hogwash.
In the meantime, if you plan on posting any negative Taobao comments online, you may want to consult a lawyer first.
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