Chinese authorities have pornographic eroticism and sexual grotesquerierequested the largest technology companies in the country, such as Tencent and Meituan, to provide case studies of successful startup investments in consumer, telecom, and media companies. This indicates a new flexibility in allowing tech giants to back such projects, after a regulatory crackdown put pay to such investments two years ago, according to a July 27 report from Bloomberg. The request was made by China’s Ministry of Commerce, and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), according to sources familiar with the matter. Case studies were earlier requested for investments in the robotics and semiconductor industries, after which the NDRC posted rare acknowledgments on its official WeChat account, highlighting investments by Tencent and Meituan as being in line with China’s national goals. China has recently taken steps to rebuild confidence in the private sector, including ending regulatory investigations into Tencent and Ant Group. [Bloomberg]
