It's time to hire '疆输影' as a spokesperson

Lead

An Ifeng opinion piece argues Tencent (腾讯) should hire the pseudonymous writer '疆输影' as a public-facing advocate after a long-time reader — reportedly a longtime Tencent employee — privately contacted the author to apologise for a string of unexplained article deletions. The column frames the contact as symbolic: a reminder that behind algorithmic moderation there are real users and staff who understand the value of long-form, interest-driven writing on WeChat public accounts (微信公众号). It has been reported that the author sees such readers and insider voices as precisely the kind of human bridge Tencent needs.

The complaint

The article lays into how recent product and moderation changes — an information‑flow presentation that hides subscription feeds, opaque automated deletions, and near‑no human recourse for ordinary authors — have hollowed out the ecosystem that once produced deep, expert-led essays. High‑quality contributors, the piece says, have been driven off or silenced: long, technical, or policy-oriented posts are increasingly removed without explanation, and many creators are switching to or being courted by rival platforms such as ByteDance (字节跳动), which the author claims use human outreach to recruit and support top creators. Why would a platform built on social ties ignore real human support?

Why it matters

This is about more than product design; it reflects China’s broader media governance and platform competition environment where regulators, platform policies and automated moderation intersect. The Ifeng column warns that replacing social, interest‑based discovery with algorithmic feeds undermines WeChat’s unique social graph and the “real‑person” advantages that once sustained high‑quality Chinese-language long‑form content. It has been reported that creators are increasingly using AI to produce output — a trend the author calls “sad and avoidable” if platforms re-embrace human curation, clearer compliance channels and visible support staff. For Western readers: this is a reminder that Chinese tech rivals like Tencent (腾讯) and ByteDance (字节跳动) are not just battling for eyeballs but for the cultural and editorial norms that define how public discourse is produced and moderated in China.