I'm a little disappointed in this post given China's penchant to controlling news/media/content.

I see how this could easily be manipulated into an extremely powerful propaganda tool - especially hiding behind a guise of "algorithms" are doing all the work - and yet it is not mentioned at all in the post.

We have already seen how content systems like Facebook, Google, and Twitter can be manipulated via botnets, but when a central power manages this it can obviously get significantly worse.

Does this concern you as an investor who lives in America?

I am afraid I cannot do justice to this question by answering it in a few sentences in this forum. Toutiao is one of the first apps in China to enable creators to write content and find audience without having to go through other media outlets. So in a way they are transforming the way information is made available to people. If you would like to discuss more email me directly at anu@ycombinator.com

I agree it's tough to do justice in a few sentences in a forum, which is why I assumed it would be done in the very in depth and otherwise interesting article you wrote :)

In my opinion it's the absence of this topic from the article that makes YC look tone deaf once again by glossing over a serious repercussion that technology can have on society for the sake of self-promotion -- especially given current events regarding the manipulation of social networks by foreign entities and a very serious history of censorship and media control.

All media are controlled by the government in China, not just Toutian. It certainly can be manipulated easily for propaganda. However, it is now a common problem even for a company like the Facebook's fake news problem.

You talk here about creating an "addictive" product. People in the industry usually use the euphemism "engagement" rather than "addiction" but either way, do you think that this type of product will eventually be treated by society the way cigarettes are now?

Given that most people in SV don't have connections to China, how did your personal investment in Toutiao come about?

And given the amount of money in China, why did Toutiao need or want non-Chinese investors, particularly individual investors?

As someone not familiar with Toutiao, could you describe how the Q&A function works from a user perspective?

I'm guessing there's a part of the app where the user goes for Q&As. If a user asks "How do I flush my car's cooling system?", does the question get sent to all users who like cars?

Once a question is submitted, the AI engine automatically recommends a list of relevant experts/potential answerers to the questioner to choose from. As a user you can choose who you want answers from. In addition the system also pushes the question to relevant users based on their interest graph. The system then also sorts the recommended answers based on its quality.

Has Toutiao been through YC core program?

Nope. I have known the company from before my time at YC.