Softbank Japan - Raising nationalist fears in China?
After finding out about the venture, some users have closed their accounts on Renren.com, a social networking site popularly known as the Chinese Facebook, with some college students spreading the word among peers to delete their personal information on the site, the China Daily reported.
“Renren has the personal information of more than 15 million Chinese university students, who represent the future elite of China’s society,” the newspaper quoted a widespread online post as saying. “The Japanese can easily analyze China’s future with these materials.”
Renren.com has an estimated 100 million registered users, more than a quarter of China’s online population. More than a quarter of them are college users for whom the site was originally designed and targeted.
Oak Pacific Interactive, the company behind Renren.com, told the newspaper Softbank had injected $384 million into the company for an approximately 40 percent share in 2008.
It did not have a figure on how many users have deleted their accounts as a result of the Japanese link but said user data on the site are confidential, contrary to fears.
Previous street polls have shown nationalism and anti-Japanese sentiments rampant, especially among younger Chinese dubbed the Gen-Y generation born between 1981 and 1995. – read more at JapanTimes.com…
