Book review: 'Influence Empire' doesn't start as a cautionary tale, but ends up being one

Chen writes that despite close ties with China's ruling party, Tencent has been at the receiving end of state directives to curb its influence and profits from gaming, edtech and shopping. (Image: Donald Wu via Unsplash)

Journalist Lulu Yilun Chen, who has been covering China’s technology landscape for over a decade, has written a book called Influence Empire, which takes readers into “the story of Tencent and China’s tech ambition”. While founder, chairman and CEO Pony Ma is a key figure in this story, this book does not fawn over him. It shows how he came to be seen as a challenge to the tech giants of Silicon Valley. At the same time, it portrays the man as someone who began as a “copycat…imitating Western peers”.

How did Pony Ma understand the needs of Chinese Internet users? Why did he choose to work with co-founders that he knew from middle school? Why did Tencent suffer a blow soon after it went public? How has it survived under a communist regime? What has enabled Tencent to compete with Jack Ma’s Alibaba? Why did Donald Trump try to curtail American investments in Tencent? How does Tencent benefit from investing in start-ups? The book engages with all these questions that are confounding for people outside China.

Chen writes, “Pony is a master of creating products so convenient and intuitive that billions of users want to join his network. Yet in the back of everyone’s minds is the knowledge that their every move, location and utterance is documented and potentially scrutinised, a fact they’re increasingly and openly reminded of by the Chinese government itself.”

This book explores why users court the risks that come with using Tencent’s services like WeChat, and how they navigate state censorship. It also pushes us to think about why Tencent runs into problems with the Chinese government despite all the kowtowing.

If Chen is to be believed, Tencent pays tribute to the Chinese Communist Party even in its gym through penguin-shaped QR codes imprinted on its running tracks. If you scan these on a smartphone, you get to view stories “documenting battle victories”. If this is making you roll your eyes, wait till you get to know that “Pony himself is a member of China’s legislative council, which, along with the country’s elite (mostly Party members) convenes once a year in Beijing to discuss the nation’s agenda.” In spite of this, Tencent has been at the receiving end of state directives to curb its influence and profits from gaming, edtech and shopping.

The author learnt from an unnamed source at Tencent that the company recently “launched a project using data and algorithms to predict future members of the politburo’s standing committee.” Obviously, this was threatening for the Communist Party. Predicting election outcomes is a common practice in the United States, India and other countries, but it is not favourably regarded in China. The author points out that in November 2021, regulators “ordered the company to stop rolling out new apps or updates.” The government told Tencent that its products “violated data protection rules”. This is ironic as per Chen's claims that the government itself has been collaborating with Tencent to gather dirt on citizens, restrict any criticism of China’s actions in Hong Kong, and suspend WeChat accounts. In keeping with journalistic ethics, Chen protects the anonymity of her sources but this very fact could be used to challenge the authenticity of her claims and demand supporting evidence.

This book would resonate with Indian readers at many levels in a scenario where start-ups are being hailed as the drivers of the economy. On the one hand, it investigates how American supremacy can be effectively challenged through homegrown talent and creativity. On the other hand, it exposes how state surveillance can be a dampener for innovation and scale. It hasn't been written as a cautionary tale but it does end up being one.

Chen writes, "In many ways, the story of the rise of Tencent is that of the country's as a whole. Tencent – and an army of tech corporations that it backed – was born out of unprecedented economic expansion, a nation's growing confidence and gradual acceptance into the international community, and a billion people expecting a better life than their parents." She compels us to reflect on the price that the Chinese people have had to pay while parting with private data to access services that promise convenience and efficiency.

The ecosystems spawned by Tencent and its competitors serve users who are forbidden from reaping the benefits of a whole universe that many of us in India take for granted – Google, Facebook, and Twitter. What might happen if India mimics the policies of the Chinese government to make its people fall in line? This question is worth thinking about so that we can safeguard our rights as citizens even as we celebrate our freedoms as consumers.

(Influence Empire was published by Hodder & Stoughton in July 2022)