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  "documentTitle": "Joyy Inc. (YY)",
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  "authorName": "Carson Block",
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  "sourceTypeLabel": "Short seller",
  "presentationDate": "2020-11-18 00:00:00",
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  "notes": "The page includes two footnotes detailing specific interview sources and clarifying bot audience numbers for the 'Livehouse' channel.",
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      "text": "Three country executives at Bigo matter-of-factly confirmed to us that the majority of Bigo users are fake, with the allocation of bots being directed by AI run from Bigo’s headquarters in Singapore or YY’s headquarters in Guangzhou.",
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      "text": "Three country executives at Bigo matter-of-factly confirmed to us that the majority of Bigo users are fake, with the allocation of bots being directed by AI run from Bigo’s headquarters in Singapore or YY’s headquarters in Guangzhou.",
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      "text": "Bigo performers are users by design. To be paid, performers need to meet certain target “bean” quotas and follow a schedule of regular broadcasts to game the app’s ranking system. Paid performers are required to keep their daily streams to between 30 minutes and two hours. This ensures they log on as many days as possible each month, while aligning their payment incentives with the metrics of third-party app analysis companies, which rank apps on engagement metrics. Bigo creates the impression of a large number of users who are highly engaged, when in fact the engaged users are mostly just paid performers working according to a set of scheduling parameters.",
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      "text": "Bigo uses talent agencies and performer “families” to manage Bigo bean distributions and allocations in their network, creating a similar dynamic to YY Live without the need for implicit control of channel owners.",
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      "text": "A former Bigo Middle East executive described to us a similar proportion of fake users on Bigo. He stated that, “For Bigo, only about 30-40% of the viewers are real and about 60-70% are bots.” However, Bigo can dial up or down the proportion of bots on the platform, according to the former executive: “This figure can be much higher. For example, in the Live House [music channel], the first 5,000 viewers are normally all bots.”",
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      "text": "Our investigators spoke to a former Bigo India executive to ask about the way Bigo did business. The executive stated that roughly 60% of the people in Bigo performers’ rooms were bots, with the allocation of bots being determined by the Chinese team in Singapore and Guangzhou.",
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      "kind": "quote",
      "text": "So basically, when you join, I cannot leave you like this... a blank. We have to give you some fans... If you join the platform and go live, nobody will give you money. Correct. Do whatever you can, but no one will.",
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      "text": "So basically, when you join, I cannot leave you like this... a blank. We have to give you some fans. We have to give you some followers... If you join the platform and go live, nobody will give you money. Correct. Do whatever you can, but no one will. — Former Bigo India executive. For Bigo, only about 30-40% of the viewers are real and about 60-70% are bots. — Former Bigo Middle East executive.",
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      "text": "91 Interview with former Bigo manager in South Asia\n92 Interview with former Bigo manager in the Middle East, recently Livehouse users’ numbers are typically in the low 2000’s, so Bigo may have adjusted this base line bot audience down to 2,000+ users.",
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      "text": "Former Bigo Country Executives Stated the Majority of Users were Fake",
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      "text": "Bigo’s Spin on the Circular Economy Is Recycling Beans Through Broadcasters",
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