Updated: Toutiao’s overseas platform is delivering fake news, but its problems run much deeper than that

Editor’s note: This op-ed was contributed by Elliott Zaagman, a trainer, coach, and change management consultant who specializes in aiding Chinese companies as they globalize. To contact him, check him out on LinkedIn, or add ezaagman on WeChat. 

Updated on 07 Feb 2018 to include information about Elliot’s previous relationship with the TopBuzz platform as well as his attempts to get official statements from the company.

Over the last year, few Chinese tech firms have made a bigger splash than news aggregator Jinri Toutiao (今日头条). Leaping from relative obscurity just a few short years ago, the app has become a magnet for Chinese eyeballs, with over 120 million daily active users, who spend an average of 74 minutes per day on the platform.

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