SUMMARY
- A Beijing-based media outlet criticizes Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg's approach to the Chinese market as detrimental.
- The critique follows Meta's ongoing negotiations with Tencent to introduce their Quest headsets to mainland China.
- The outlet highlights Zuckerberg's stark contrast to other tech CEOs like Apple's Tim Cook and Tesla's Elon Musk in terms of successful engagement with China.
Mark Zuckerberg, the head honcho of Meta, has been chastised by a media outlet under the control of the Chinese state, in a scathing commentary published on Wednesday. They accused him of metaphorically shooting himself in the foot in relation to the Chinese markets.
Beijing Daily's affiliate WeChat account rolled out the critique in the wake of the Wall Street Journal report about ongoing negotiations between Meta and Tencent. The discussions were aimed at selling Meta's Quest headsets in mainland China.
The critique, translated from Mandarin, called out Zuckerberg for his past denunciations of Chinese corporations, including TikTok, the social media giant owned by ByteDance. Such comments, they insinuated, were detrimental to his business prospects in China. Zuckerberg's long-standing grievances with Chinese companies and rampant corporate espionage are well documented.
Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony in 2020 where he mentioned the rampant technology theft by the Chinese government from American companies was particularly highlighted. The critique further underscored the visits by Apple CEO, Tim Cook, and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk to China as instances of a successful engagement, emphasizing that Zuckerberg's efforts fell short in comparison.
Notably, Zuckerberg has openly labeled TikTok a “very effective competitor”. Privately, he has purportedly asserted that the company poses a significant risk to American businesses. The Wall Street Journal reported that after a meeting with Zuckerberg, Sen. Tom Cotton sent a request for an inquiry into TikTok to U.S. intelligence officials.
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