Editor’s note for Monday, March 15, 2021

My thoughts today:

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Jack Ma is still in the dogbox, it seems. “China’s government has asked Alibaba Group Holding to dispose of its media assets, as officials grow more concerned about the technology giant’s sway over public opinion in the country, according to people familiar with the matter.”

So says the Wall Street Journal, in its latest report on the political problems that seem to be plaguing Ma and his corporate babies Alibaba and Ant Group.

Jack is not the only Ma with problems. The Alibaba founder whose Chinese name is Mǎ Yún 马云 is no relation of Pony Ma (马化腾 Mǎ Huàténg) founder of WeChat’s parent company Tencent, but they both face a much tougher regulatory environment this year than they have ever known. The latest state attack on Chinese Big Tech was aired today on China Central Television’s annual March 15 or “Consumer Day” World Consumer Rights Day program, called “CCTV March 15 Gala” (晚会 3.15).

Although this promotion of the rights of consumers was launched on March 15, 1962, by U.S. president John F. Kennedy, there’s not much fuss made about it in America anymore. But it is a big deal in China, as many large companies are targeted for unfair practices by the country’s state broadcaster in the March 15 Gala. Today’s show highlighted a Tencent “phone cleanser” app for illegally collecting elderly users’ data, and many other tech companies from facial recognition camera makers to professional networking sites and mobile browsers.

We’ll have a full report on the victims of the CCTV March 15 Gala tomorrow!

Our word of the day is Yangon, Myanmar (缅甸仰光 miǎndiàn yǎngguāng), the largest city in the country and site of a security force crackdown on anti-coup protesters over the weekend.

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief