Financial journalist and founder of 'Qin Shuo Friends Circle', Qin Shuo, has filed a lawsuit against ByteDance Vice President Li Liang. The legal action follows a public dispute regarding the state of the Chinese internet market.
The conflict began on October 26 after Qin Shuo published an article titled 'The Terrible Hongguo and the Byte Time of the Chinese Internet'. Citing QuestMobile data via Nomura Securities, Qin claimed that ByteDance-owned apps accounted for 40.9% of mobile internet usage time among the top 50 apps in July 2026, compared to 29.1% for Tencent.
Li Liang publicly challenged these figures, labeling the analysis as imprecise. He argued that the data excluded PC traffic and long-tail applications, failing to represent the overall internet landscape. Li also claimed that Tencent's short drama and video growth rates currently exceed those of ByteDance.
The dispute escalated when Li Liang used derogatory language on Weibo and suggested that Qin Shuo was influenced by external stakeholders. Qin countered by accusing Li of misattributing articles to him to imply a conflict of interest. Qin has now engaged the Grandall Law Firm to pursue the case in a Shanghai court.
Li Liang has confirmed he will actively defend himself in court. He stated that the lawsuit provides an opportunity to discuss the influence of 'expert self-media' accounts, which he claims can be misleading and harmful to the industry by spreading inaccurate views to favor specific competitors.
