Reddit Users Rally Against Chinese Censorship After $300 Million Funding Round

Reddit Users Rally Against Chinese Censorship After $300 Million Funding Round

As news that Chinese company Tencent can invest $150 million in Reddit ricocheted across the popular aggregation web site, Redditors expressed fears concerning censorship — and shared tons of Winnie the Pooh and Tiananmen Square pictures.

The deal with Tencent, a holding company which specializes in technology, is reportedly part of Reddit’s plan to raise $300 million to support the company’s operations, according to a report released Tuesday by TechCrunch. Reddit, that boasts 330 million active users and bills itself because the “Front Page of the net,” is inaccessible in China.

Reddit confirmed the deal Monday morning, saying that it raised $300 million in a funding round led by Tencent and joined by several of the site’s existing investors. The deal gives Reddit a market valuation of $3 billion. The company did not offer further comment about the funding round.

Most of the backlash has been within the style of variety of posts to 1 of the site’s preferred teams, r/pics, which has over 20 million subscribers. Redditors have written that they feared the positioning, that is magnificently a bastion of free speech (with some exceptions) and therefore the home of the many niche communities, might find yourself facing censorship as is seen in China. There, the government blocks references to the bloody 1989 massacre in the Beijing square, as well as images that are more subtly subversive, such as the iconic and lovable Disney bear.