Jack Ma—Jack Ma defended illegal '996' work culture requiring 72-hour work weeks
In April 2019, Jack Ma stated 'I personally think that being able to work 996 is a huge blessing' in remarks posted on Alibaba's WeChat. The 996 culture (9am-9pm, six days a week) is illegal under Chinese labor law limiting work to 40 hours weekly. Ma's comments came after People's Daily argued 996 violates labor law. The Supreme People's Court deemed 996 illegal on August 27, 2021. Ma later tempered comments, saying companies forcing such practices are 'foolish.'
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worker Rights | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.858 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Jack Ma praised 996 work culture as 'huge blessing' in company WeChat post
Jack Ma stated 'I personally think that being able to work 996 is a huge blessing' in remarks posted on Alibaba's WeChat account in April 2019. The Supreme People's Court later deemed 996 work culture illegal on August 27, 2021.