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Twitter Goes on Defensive About China Head’s Background

Twitter‘s hiring of a Chinese tech executive with past links to China’s military and security agencies but little social-media experience has raised concerns about the company’s strategy in the massive China market, where it remains blocked.

While there is no indication that Kathy Chen maintains connections with the People’s Liberation Army or China’s security apparatus, her history has unsettled many Chinese users of Twitter. Last week Ms. Chen left Microsoft Corp. to become Twitter’s managing director for China.

Twitter said its strategy in China hasn’t changed and that Ms. Chen’s main job is to sell services like advertising, data analytics and developer platforms to companies in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

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Twitter‘s hiring of a Chinese tech executive with past links to China’s military and security agencies but little social-media experience has raised concerns about the company’s strategy in the massive China market, where it remains blocked.

While there is no indication that Kathy Chen maintains connections with the People’s Liberation Army or China’s security apparatus, her history has unsettled many Chinese users of Twitter. Last week Ms. Chen left Microsoft Corp. to become Twitter’s managing director for China.

Twitter said its strategy in China hasn’t changed and that Ms. Chen’s main job is to sell services like advertising, data analytics and developer platforms to companies in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Read more at the Wall Street Journal

Image courtesy of Twitter

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