Innovation drives new economic growth

How can ordinary people become superstars overnight through Kuaishou?

Su Hua: Unlike competitors who have contracts with stars and influencers, Kuaishou positions itself as a platform where common people can share their life with others from the very beginning. Our platform started as a GIF tool, but soon switched to a short video-sharing community to meet the appetite of the audience.

What is your strategy facing the increasingly fierce and rapidly changing internet industry?

Su Hua: The key is to figure out what you want and continue with it. The industry always changes, but you need to find something that you can stick with. Once you start, you ought to think for your users and solve their problems.

It is important to do the right thing at the right time, but we don't follow what others are pursuing.

Are you worried that users may harm themselves when making erratic videos for more public attention? What's your take on content regulation?

Su Hua: We have regulations on our platform, and the bottom line is there is nothing that is no leeway against the law. We will stop some accounts if they break the bottom line.

However, gray areas still exist. What we are doing is to measure the amount of users who send us complaints. Once the complaint reaches a certain number, we will intervene in this account. We do not intervene in the content creation process, but we do have regulations to exclude some improper content.

Why did you refuse cooperation with studios who wanted to use talents from your platform in films and reality shows? It seems a good way to make money by nurturing talents and drawing in more audience.

Su Hua: Our users are mostly welcome to pursue what they want, but we will not get involved in their decisions nor represent them. We position ourselves as a platform focusing on video sharing between ordinary people, and that is why it attracted so many users at the very beginning.

Making money by nurturing talents and drawing in more audience is a trend that many video-sharing platforms follow right now. Kuaishou, however, has no current plans to step into the business.

The government is stepping up efforts to reduce the tax burden of business entities. How do you view this?

Su Hua: The decreasing tax burden can not only enhance our competitiveness against companies in other countries, but also allow Chinese enterprises to invest more in innovation, which will enable them to better participate in the fierce global competition.

Zhou Lanxu contributed to the story.