China Digital Digest Weekly: Exploring the Chinese Digital Landscape
- ClickInsights
- Jun 16
- 4 min read
Hi folks, we are back with our weekly edition of China’s Digital Digest, wherein we bring you weekly updates on China’s digital space. The report takes a quick glance at China’s complex and rapidly evolving social media landscape by providing updates on the latest happenings across the social media industry. Here are the major highlights of the report.
1. ByteDance Spins Off AI Drug Discovery Business for Independent Financing, AI4S Enters Industrial Phase
ByteDance is spinning off its AI drug discovery business into a separate entity and initiating an independent financing process, marking a major step toward commercializing its artificial intelligence capabilities in life sciences.
Following the spin-off, ByteDance will retain majority control of the new company. The core AI drug discovery team, comprising approximately 50 members led by Liu Kai and consisting of AI4S algorithm specialists and senior pharmaceutical researchers, will transition entirely to the new entity. The business will continue to receive computing power support from ByteDance's Volcano Engine cloud platform. ByteDance established its AI drug discovery team in 2021, focused on basic model research. Over the past five years, the team has built an impressive portfolio of technologies. In 2025, the AI4S team released Protenix and Seedfold molecular structure prediction models, followed by Protenix-v1 and v2 iterations in 2026.
2. Alibaba Partnership Committee Directly Rebukes DingTalk Management After Viral Resignation Essay
Alibaba's Partnership Committee took the rare step of publicly criticizing DingTalk's management after a 75,000-word resignation essay by former product manager Teng Yaxin went viral.
The essay alleged excessive overtime, inconsistent product direction, and internal dysfunction surrounding the AI project ONE, prompting a broader internal review and leadership changes, including the departure of DingTalk CEO Chen Hang (Wuzhao). While Alibaba framed the issue as a management and cultural problem, critics argued that ONE exposed deeper structural challenges, with AI features designed to prioritize managerial oversight over user needs. The controversy has intensified scrutiny of Alibaba's ongoing AI reorganization, as the company centralizes decision-making and consolidates resources under CEO Wu Yongming's leadership.
3. Qwen Launches AI Football Prediction Assistant
Qwen has launched its first AI Football Prediction Assistant. Users are invited to predict match scores and earn points. By participating, football fans can not only contribute to the construction of football pitches for rural schools but also compete for cash prizes worth up to RMB 10,000.
According to Cheng Fei, Head of Qwen AI Prediction Products, the assistant has been trained on extensive datasets, including historical match records, player statistics, injury reports, geographical information across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as weather conditions during the tournament. As an example, Cheng highlighted the group-stage match between Norway and Senegal on June 22. While Norway appears to have a clear advantage thanks to world-class striker Erling Haaland, Qwen predicts a 1–1 draw.
4. Ant International Powers New E-Wallet In Cash-Heavy Mexico
Ant International has partnered with Mexico’s Clip to launch an electronic wallet, hoping to disrupt cash dominance in Latin America’s second-largest economy.
Backed by Ant International’s artificial intelligence technology and Mastercard’s global network, the Mi Clip electronic wallet will offer users access to financial services, credit solutions and the ability to pay for everyday goods and services, and may help users build a “formal financial identity”, Clip said. Clip aims to use Mi Clip to bridge the digital gap by providing e-payment infrastructure capable of supporting high-volume, complex transactions, like those required during Mexico’s annual national shopping event of El Buen Fin.
5. DeepSeek Website Hits 541M Monthly Visits in May
DeepSeek has solidified its position as China's dominant AI product website, recording 541 million monthly visits in May — an 11.22% month-over-month increase that places it firmly at the top of the domestic ranking and fifth globally.
The explosive growth trajectory shows no signs of abating, as the platform continues to widen the gap between itself and the chasing pack. Behind DeepSeek, a competitive second tier has emerged. Nami AI Search secured second place with 198 million visits, followed closely by Doubao at 164 million. Kimi and Qwen rounded out the top five with 46 million and 44 million visits respectively, underscoring the breadth of options now available to Chinese consumers seeking AI-powered tools. Globally, DeepSeek ranked fifth among all AI product websites by monthly traffic, trailing only ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and other international platforms.
6. PDD Holdings Plants a Flag in Xiong'an, Signaling Pinduoduo's Industrial Internet Pivot
PDD Holdings has established Pinduoduo Information Technology Services (Xiong'an) Co., Ltd. in Xiong'an New Area with an initial cash injection of 500 million RMB (approximately $70 million), launching a dedicated recruitment drive for 1,000 positions with plans to create over 5,000 jobs in total.
What makes this move notable is the subsidiary's business scope. Unlike Pinduoduo's core e-commerce operations centered on online sales and social commerce, the new entity focuses on big data processing, digital operations and maintenance, and cloud platform services. The company is effectively spinning out the powerful technical infrastructure it built over years — including supply-demand matching algorithms, distributed data processing capabilities, and intelligent supply chain systems — into an independent, external-facing technology services business.
7. Beijing Watchdog Warns Ecommerce Giants Over Misleading Campaign Practices
Beijing's market regulator has told China's five leading e-commerce platforms, including JD.Com and Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall Group, to rectify non-compliant practices in their promotional activities for the 618 mid-year shopping festival.
The Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation called in Taobao and Tmall, JD.Com, Pinduoduo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu, and demanded corrections after pointing out issues in their 618 campaigns such as false advertising, improper formulation and disclosure of campaign rules, and failure to publicly disclose merchant information, it said in a statement yesterday. China’s two biggest annual shopping festivals are 618, held in the middle of the year, and Double 11, held toward the end of the year. 618 began as JD.Com’s anniversary sale, but it gradually grew into a month-long promotion in which all major e-commerce platforms now take part.
Wrapping Up
The vast and diverse nature of the Chinese Social Media space makes it incredibly challenging to keep a tab on the rapid developments taking place. However, China’s Digital Digest brings you all the latest updates from there to keep you abreast of all the evolving trends.
To delve deeper into the findings of our latest report, click here.
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