Woman Sues Housing Platform Ziroom Over Deadly Chemical– SixthTone
What happened: The widow of an Alibaba employee has filed a lawsuit against Chinese online apartment leasing giant Ziroom for causing the death of her husband. The Ziroom user surnamed Wang died of leukemia in July after living in Ziroom’s house that was found to have unsafe formaldehyde levels.
Why it’s important: Chinese proptech giant Ziroom backed by Tencent has been under fire recently. The current scandal comes shortly after the company was being accused of ramping up prices for housing in Beijing. Ziroom is not the only Chinese tech firm that’s losing trust from users. Didi’s recent passenger murder scandal has sparked social outrage against the ride-hailing tycoon. Chinese tech giants are under backlash over missteps in speeding up monetization moves at the sacrifice of public goodwill.