Hong Kong — Tencent Holdings, which owns China’s top social media app WeChat, has scrapped an investment of up to 30-million yuan ($4.7m) in a content start-up that has been criticised online and by state media for its handling of copyright issues. News of Tencent’s investment in Chaping, a WeChat-based online media company whose name means "bad review", had spurred questions about Tencent’s commitment to protecting intellectual property that is at the core of its own content business spanning publishing, entertainment and gaming. "We have reached consensus with the Chaping team to accept their decision to voluntarily return our investment," Tencent’s public relations director Marsh Zhang said in a WeChat post. Tencent also said it would "continue to respect and protect original content" with enhanced measures. The investment in Chaping — the first by Tencent’s new content-focused TOPIC fund — is dwarfed by international mega deals done in recent months by the company. Tencent is As...
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