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SHOCKING: Alibaba accused of espionage for CCP and aggressive US lobbying! Is your data at risk?

ByAlki David

Feb 20, 2023

Alibaba, the e-commerce behemoth headquartered in the historic city of Hangzhou, has recently been rocked by explosive allegations of espionage on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). A Belgian minister has accused the multinational retail and technology giant of processing stolen data for Beijing, raising concerns about the company’s activities and its ties to the authoritarian regime.

But that’s not all. It turns out that Alibaba has also been aggressively lobbying in the United States, according to a recent report by OpenSecrets, a research organization that tracks money in politics. The company’s representatives spent more than $2.5 million on U.S. lobbying efforts last year, in a blatant attempt to influence American policymakers and advance their interests.

This revelation raises serious questions about the extent to which Alibaba is willing to go to curry favor with the CCP and promote its own agenda. The company has been expanding rapidly in recent years, with its market value skyrocketing to over $500 billion. But at what cost?

It’s clear that Alibaba is not simply a benign tech giant, but a player with a deeply troubling track record. This is especially true when it comes to issues of privacy and data security, where the company has been accused of flouting regulations and putting users at risk. And now, with the allegations of espionage, it seems that Alibaba’s ties to the Chinese government are even more disturbing than previously thought.

Chinese online retail giant Alibaba’s executive chairman and founder Jack Ma (center) waves as he arrives at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on Sept. 19, 2014. Jewel Samad—AFP/Getty Images

It’s time for American policymakers to take a hard look at Alibaba’s activities and hold the company accountable for any illegal or unethical behavior. We cannot allow a foreign power to conduct espionage on American soil, and we certainly cannot allow multinational corporations to undermine our democratic values and institutions.

Alibaba must be held to the highest standards of transparency and accountability, and if the company cannot meet those standards, then it should be barred from operating in the United States. The American people deserve nothing less than a full accounting of Alibaba’s activities, and a commitment to ensuring that our country is not compromised by foreign powers or their proxies.

By Alki David

Alki David — Publisher, Media Architect, SIN Network Creator - live, direct-to-public communication, media infrastructure, accountability journalism, and independent distribution. Born in Lagos, Nigeria; educated in the United Kingdom and Switzerland; attended the Royal College of Art. Early internet broadcaster — participated in real-time public coverage during the 1997 Mars landing era using experimental online transmission from Beverly Hills. Founder of FilmOn, one of the earliest global internet television networks offering live and on-demand broadcasting outside legacy gatekeepers. Publisher of SHOCKYA — reporting since 2010 on systemic corruption inside the entertainment business and its expansion into law, finance, and regulation. Creator of the SIN Network (ShockYA Integrated Network), a federated media and civic-information infrastructure spanning investigative journalism, live TV, documentary, and court-record reporting. Lived and worked for over 40 years inside global media hubs including Malibu, Beverly Hills, London, Hong Kong and Gstaad. Early encounter with Julian Assange during the first Hologram USA operations proved a formative turning point — exposing the realities of lawfare, information suppression, and concentrated media power. Principal complainant and driving force behind what court filings describe as the largest consolidated media–legal accountability action on record, now before the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. Relocated to Antigua & Barbuda and entered sustained legal, civic, and informational confrontation over media power, safeguarding, and accountability at Commonwealth scale.