Starting from a Fake University
Chapter 944 - 518: Is This the Charm of Money? (Please Subscribe)_2

Chapter 944: Chapter 518: Is This the Charm of Money? (Please Subscribe)_2

At first, Chen Xueming thought the matter would be simple. After all, Mist City Arts and Science University was just a private institution, and targeting it seemed quite easy.

But unexpectedly,

The incident involving his younger brother, Chen Xuejun, especially the exposure of the deforestation and burning at Huangcheng Forest Farm, had provoked an extremely fierce reaction from netizens.

Now, to completely settle the issue would probably cost a lot of money.

"Damn it!"

After cursing, Chen Xuejun looked at his elder brother, Chen Xueming, and said, "No matter what, we can’t let this blow up. It’s just about spending money, right? No problem!"

Chen Xuejun was indeed making a significant investment this time.

In the past, when media outlets discovered issues with his forest farms in the northwest, a little money was usually enough to resolve the problem.

A small media outlet could be dealt with for just 100,000 or 200,000 yuan, a few hundred thousand at most.

There had also been a major southern media outlet that Chen Xuejun had settled for more than two million yuan.

A few hundred thousand, or even two million yuan, wasn’t much for Chen Xuejun. Being able to solve a problem with money was of course the best outcome.

But this time was different.

A university student team from the journalism department of a mere private university had managed to stir up such a big fuss.

They had already spent 35 million yuan a moment ago.

And now, listening to what his brother, Chen Xueming, was implying, it seemed that the money they would have to spend next would surely exceed the 35 million yuan already spent.

"Immediately contact Twitter and the Penguin Group. This time, we have to clean this up completely. Any Weibo related to this matter should have its popularity restricted!"

Chen Xueming sternly instructed the head of the public relations department.

"Understood, Mr. Chen."

The PR head nodded and hurried off to deal with the task at hand.

If he handled this issue well for the leadership, this year’s year-end bonus would definitely be substantial, given that the PR department would often handle several major PR campaigns over the year, resulting in hefty year-end rewards.

And with today’s issue, they had already spent 35 million yuan just now, and it seemed likely that much more would be spent shortly. Therefore, this event was undoubtedly a major PR incident, and it also involved the chairman’s younger brother.

Consequently,

Q Entertainment Media’s PR department once again reached out to Twitter and TikTok. This time, the price quoted by the two major platforms was significantly higher than last time.

After all, the previous time, it was only about decreasing the trending heat or removing hot searches, but this time was different.

This time, they needed to completely suppress the discussion on this topic.

Ultimately, Twitter and TikTok quoted a combined price of 60 million yuan!

When Chen Xuejun heard this price, he couldn’t help but feel a jolt in his heart, as the figure far exceeded his expectations. However, in order to prevent the issue from escalating, there was no choice but to pay.

After all, Huangcheng Forest Farm made less than sixty million yuan in net profits annually from growing grapes for wine and selling it.

And this wasn’t just sixty million!

They had to add the previous 35 million yuan!

Together, that amounted to 95 million yuan. Nearly one hundred million yuan would need to be spent to completely stifle the issue before it fully erupted.

Fortunately, it involved Twitter and TikTok, two major platforms. If it were just one platform demanding so much money, Chen Xuejun would probably feel like coughing up blood.

There was also another reason for the high price: Q Entertainment Media, part of the Penguin Group, truly had to spend a bit more money to conduct PR on Twitter and TikTok.

Especially TikTok!

The relationship between Twitter and the Penguin Group was still somewhat decent.

But TikTok, which was part of the Penguin Group’s competing company, was different. The two companies were in competition in many areas. So, PR work on TikTok through the Penguin Group was bound to cost more.

As the saying goes, "Money makes the world go round," and even companies in competition with each other will assist in alleviating each other’s disasters if the price is right!

Another 60 million yuan fluttered away.

Soon enough, on both Twitter and TikTok, any discussions related to the Huangcheng Forest Farm incident were barely given any public page visibility.

In other words,

Even if the trending score about Huangcheng Forest Farm on Twitter exceeded a hundred million, it would not appear on Twitter’s homepage or the trending search rankings.

This is the charm of money!

It’s the same with TikTok: no matter how high the views or how many the comments, unless it’s from an official media, it won’t appear on the homepage and won’t draw more attention.

It’s as if a news event’s flow has been directly severed!

The issue with Huangcheng Forest Farm was garnering more and more attention from netizens.

But now, after Chen Xuejun from Jiangjiu Group spent money, the flow has been cut off. Only those already aware of it remain informed, while many other netizens have no way of learning about it.

In another two or three days, there will be no more buzz, and it will be forgotten by those who knew about it.

Many people have said that netizens have no memory.

Even though many are aware of the Huangcheng Forest Farm incident right now, and are angry about it being handled with money by capitalists, they feel powerless.

This is reality.

"It’s so infuriating, we got it to the top of the trending topics, and it was pulled so quickly?"

"Damn, Twitter’s Bitch is really inhumane!"

"It’s so aggravating!"

"I almost spat out a mouthful of old blood, how can they do this!"

"I feel like there’s no point in us pushing for trending, Jiangjiu Group obviously has enough money to smooth over the trending topics."

"This is a consistent tactic of Twitter and the capitalists."

"Hahaha, the irony, money really does make the world go round!"

"This issue can’t end this way!"

"Let’s report it directly to the agricultural authorities!"

"Yes, yes, yes, we should report it to the agricultural authorities and other relevant departments, I refuse to believe it!"

"I’m so mad, we need to unite. If we don’t get this sorted out today, what’s stopping capitalists from chopping down our protective forests and planting grapes?"

"Right, imagine in the future, walking in the streets, eating mouthfuls of dust while the capitalists drink high-end wine in their mansions!"

"Holy shit, brother above, you’re giving me a mental image!"

Many netizens felt "despair", after all, facing such an incident, as long as there was money, trends could be suppressed and it would hardly cause a stir.

Still, there were quite a few netizens ready to fight, willing to report directly to the agricultural authorities!

Some netizens had indeed started to take such actions.

If Mist City Arts and Science University were just a regular private college, facing pressure from big companies like Jiangjiu Group and Q Entertainment Media, they would have been powerless.

However!

Mist City Arts and Science University was no longer ordinary!

At this moment in Mist City Arts and Science University.

Director Liu Hongxia from the publicity department, as well as Ding Yue’s AI robot Big White, were reporting the online situation to Ding Yue.

"So you’re saying the trending on Twitter and TikTok has been completely taken down?"

Ding Yue asked Director Liu Hongxia.

"Yes, Principal Ding, no matter how much trending momentum there is, it can no longer rise to the top. Both platforms have taken the strictest action," replied Director Liu Hongxia, nodding her head.

"Yue, to achieve this kind of thing, they must have spent quite a bit of money, right?" Huang Youjie asked curiously.

"Well, it probably wouldn’t come down without spending tens of millions," mumbled Ding Yue, not very clear about the specifics, which Director Liu Hongxia of the publicity department might know something about.

After all, Mist City Arts and Science University had previously spent money to get on the trending list when it was first established.

This time, Ding Yue did not plan to spend money to buy trending spots, as there was already substantial buzz. However, it was clear that Jiangjiu Group and Q Entertainment Media were more forceful.

Ding-a-ling~

Just then, Ding Yue’s phone began to ring...

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