Yu Hao, the outspoken founder and CEO of Dreame Technology, has ignited a firestorm across the Chinese internet by launching a scathing public attack on Xiaohongshu, the country’s premier lifestyle and social commerce platform. In a series of blistering social media posts, Yu dismissed the platform as “rotten” and characterized its entire ecosystem as a repository of “toxic values.” The high-profile executive did not mince words, suggesting that the platform’s profit model is built on the exploitation of human vanity and the dissemination of misinformation.
Dreame Technology, a high-growth competitor to Dyson known for its high-speed digital motors and robotic vacuum cleaners, has traditionally relied on the very “grass-planting” culture that Xiaohongshu pioneered. However, Yu’s recent remarks signal a total breakdown in that relationship. He explicitly warned consumers to disregard any reviews of Dreame products found on the site, asserting that he no longer views user feedback from the platform as a credible reference for his company’s strategic direction.
The friction appears to stem from a perceived lack of accountability regarding “black PR” and organized smear campaigns. Dreame has recently struggled with a wave of online disinformation, including instances where bad actors impersonated Yu to leak fake financial data and strategic goals. By threatening to pursue joint legal action against both individual influencers and the Xiaohongshu platform itself, Yu is challenging the current legal framework that often shields digital intermediaries from the fallout of user-generated defamation.
This confrontation highlights the growing tension between China’s “hard tech” manufacturing sector and its “soft” social media giants. As brands like Dreame attempt to move up the value chain into high-end global markets, they find their domestic reputations increasingly vulnerable to the opaque algorithms and “water armies” of the social media world. Yu’s outburst suggests that the cost of doing business on China’s most influential marketing platforms may finally be outweighing the benefits for some of the country’s most ambitious entrepreneurs.