I suggest you investigate; this person doesn't seem to be a first-time reborn individual.

Xia Chan's eyes widened instantly after clicking the link.

The content is roughly as follows: My friend participated in a Momo event and paid the registration fee, but all the people matched with were shills. There were no people at the offline event at all. It was a complete scam. I urge everyone not to register and not to be scammed.

The replies below were varied:

"Really? I was just about to register."

"For those who have used it, it's not as the original poster described."

"OP, has your friend used it? You're talking nonsense without a picture."

"Those who understand this kind of thing understand it, and it's useless to explain it to those who don't."

Xia Chan read through them one by one.

She opened Weibo again and searched. Sure enough, three minutes earlier, the same content had been posted on Weibo, word for word.

It was posted by the same person.

She was about to take a screenshot and send it to Lin Ran when the door opened.

Lin Ran walked in.

Xia Chan looked up at him, and was stunned.

Lin Ran's face darkened.

The November sun wasn't too harsh, but he'd been running around Shanghai for over ten days, constantly outdoors. His face had turned a wheatish tan, but his forehead was still bright white, clearly from wearing a hat.

His face had two colors, like he was wearing a mask.

"Boss, you..."

"Shut up," Lin Ran interrupted her. "If you dare to comment on your boss's handsome face, I'll definitely dock your pay."

"Uh..." Xia Chan swallowed her words back. "Boss, take a look at this."

She turned the screen around: "Has anyone used Momo? My friend said it's a hookup app."

He raised an eyebrow and scrolled down.

The way the original poster spoke, that sarcastic tone, it's so damn familiar.

It's clearly the work of an old friend.

"Alright, I'll handle this."

He took out his phone, walked to the window, and called Lao Fang.

The phone rang three times before being answered.

"What's wrong now?" Old Fang's voice carried a hint of helplessness. "I'm busy here. A few of my underlings took on a big order yesterday, helping someone boost some e-commerce ratings. They were up until midnight."

"We've got a job."

"What is it?"

"This morning someone posted online saying that Momo is a scam app," Lin Ran said. "It was posted by the same person on the USTC forum and Weibo."

There was no response, only the clatter of keyboards and the sound of someone cursing in the distance.

"There aren't many views, and not many comments either." Lin Ran paused for a moment. "Could you help me suppress this post and prevent it from spreading?"

There was a two-second silence on the other end.

"this one?"

"That's it."

"I thought it was something serious." Old Fang's tone relaxed noticeably. "There are at least eight hundred or a thousand posts like this every day. Just find a high-authority account to go and say a few words, and then have a few other accounts report it. It'll sink in half a day."

"Okay, you handle it."

"How long should it be compressed?"

"Wait for my notification."

"Okay." Old Fang hung up the phone after saying that.

-----------------

the next morning.

Xia Chan opened Weibo and various news websites as usual and found that a post had gone viral.

It was a long Weibo post with nine screenshots of chat logs. The conversation was explicit, and the profile pictures and nicknames were blurred, but the "from Momo" watermark was still visible.

The title of the long Weibo post is:

A Girl's Personal Account: The Disgusting Things I Encountered on Momo

There are already more than three thousand comments below.

"I've said it before, this kind of software is for hooking up."

"Disgusting, I uninstalled it."

"Really? I've used it too, and I've never encountered this problem."

"Is the person upstairs a paid troll?"

"I've used +1 before, and it works fine for normal chatting. I don't know if what you're experiencing is an isolated case."

"Those who understand this kind of thing understand it, and it's useless to explain it to those who don't."

As Xia Chan brushed downwards, her face grew paler with each stroke.

Someone moved the post to Tieba (a Chinese online forum).

Someone moved it to a Douban group.

Several marketing accounts also started reposting it, with captions like "Shocking," "Exposing," and "Enter at your own risk."

The popularity is visibly increasing.

"Boss—" she called out, her voice slightly distorted.

Lin Ran looked up from in front of the computer.

"What's wrong?"

Xia Chan turned the screen around.

Lin Ran stared at the trending topic for more than ten seconds.

Then he picked up his phone and called Lao Fang again.

This time, I answered the phone after it rang once.

"I saw it." Old Fang's voice was a little hoarse, and the clattering of keyboards in the background grew even louder. "I can't suppress it anymore, brother."

"What happened?"

"She hired at least seven or eight marketing accounts last night. I don't know how much she spent, but it certainly wasn't a small amount," Lao Fang said. "Moreover, these marketing accounts have people behind them, people are promoting them. One person can't do this kind of thing."

Lin Ran hummed in agreement.

"Should I think of another way?" Lao Fang asked, his tone hesitant. "I know a few big influencers, the kind with hundreds of thousands of followers. We could pay them to post a few things to offset the negative impact, or we could report these marketing accounts and get them banned..."

"No."

"Should we hire an online troll army to flood the comments section and stir up trouble?"

"Need not."

"That……"

"That's all for now," Lin Ran said. "Wait for my message."

After hanging up the phone, he placed it on the table and leaned back in his chair without moving.

The cicadas dared not speak.

Lin Ran stared at the ceiling, his eyes unblinking.

He hesitated for once, as if doing some mental calculations.

Launching the plan now is very risky. Momo only has 600,000 users and its foundation is unstable. If it is not handled properly, it could be doomed.

But on the other hand, this opportunity is also very rare.

Someone paid him to generate buzz and put Momo in front of netizens across the country. This kind of free exposure is something you can't ask for normally, and negative exposure is the most attractive thing.

They visited more than 20 universities in Shanghai and attracted nearly 100,000 users.

Zhuge Liang had just landed in the capital and hadn't even started his campaigns yet, while the Sima of Yuezhou had just rented an office.

If we were to visit every university in the country, how many users could we acquire? At the current rate, it would take at least half a year.

"What's wrong now?" Old Fang's voice sounded tired, and the sound of keyboards clicking in the background continued.

"Help me push those posts that slander Momo up the thread."

There was a long silence on the other end.

"What did you say?"

"Push it up."

"Did I hear that right?" Old Fang's voice rose several octaves. "You asked me to help you suppress it, and now you want me to help you promote it? Did someone hack your account?"

"no."

"Are you out of your mind? If you push these negative posts up there, your Momo app will be finished!"

"Stop spouting so much nonsense, or I'll report you!"

Old Fang on the other end of the phone hung up, cursing under his breath.

That evening, several news articles appeared on major news websites.

The titles are all similar:

Momo – A hookup app disguised as a dating app

Momo: Social Networking with Strangers or Hookup with Strangers?

What's the secret behind this software with over 600,000 users?

The content is largely the same, all taken from that long Weibo post, accompanied by a few blurry screenshots and a few sentences of "industry insider analysis".