Singapore-based blogger weighs legal advice against each other.

                            

Singapore startup Gushcloud weighs legal advice on Xiaxue’s allegations

Singapore-based blogger advertising network Gushcloud received an unpleasant Christmas surprise this morning. Xiaxue, a popular but polarizing blogging personality whose real name is Wendy Cheng, wrote a scathing takedown of Gushcloud and its allegedly dishonest practices. Xiaxue is affiliated to Nuffnang, a rival Singapore-based agency that she calls an “ethical company headed by ethical people.”

The article came out of a one-year investigation by Xiaxue in which she went to the extent of setting up a shell company and buying ads just to reveal Gushcloud’s practices. When contacted by Tech in Asia, Gushcloud did not address the specific allegations brought up by Xiaxue, but issued a statement saying that the article is inaccurate.

“We think that the Blog Post was calculated to disparage and injure our reputation. The timing of the release of the Blog Post also speaks for itself. We are currently taking legal advice and reserve all our rights against Ms Cheng in relation to the Blog Post,” Gushcloud says in a Facebook post. The firm also started a hashtag called #FaithInGushcloud to rally support. However, the company’s co-founder Althea Lim later issued a statement disputing one of Xiaxue’s claims (more below).

Here is a summary of Xiaxue’s accusations. Nuffnang has responded to our queries.
1. Gushcloud inflated its earnings.

The company told The Straits Times in November 2012 that its monthly revenue was S$170,000 (US$129,000), up from S$25,000 (US$18,900) in February that same year. However, after digging through publicly obtainable records, Xiaxue found out that that company’s annual revenue was more like S$396,005, or a monthly average of S$33,000. She writes in her typically acerbic tone:


Let’s just give them the benefit of doubt. They said that their revenue went up and that in February it was only S$25,000 per month. Let’s imagine that only in November, when this article is published, did their revenue suddenly become S$170,000 per month. From January to October it was S$25,000.

(S$25,000 x 10 months) + (S$170,000 x 2 months) = S$590,000

Tadah, STILL seems like inflation to me!!!
2. Gushcloud gets bloggers to write posts that are disguised ads.

Xiaxue sent Gushcloud a request through her shell company stating that she’d like an influencer to create an Instagram promotional post with no mention that it is an ad. The post went up, and “not only did [the influencer] not mention it’s a paid ad, she pretended that she stumbled upon the client by herself.”
3. Gushcloud inflates the pageviews of its bloggers.

Xiaxue inquired about the pageviews of certain bloggers and compared them with actual numbers by ordering banner ads and placing tracking codes on them. A comparison between the numbers of three bloggers showed a disparity of between five to ten times.
4. Xiaxue suggested that Gushcloud may have bought YouTube views.

She compared her YouTube video with those of Gushcloud influencer Kay Kay (a former Xiaxue BFF by the way) and noticed some irregular patterns. While YouTube video views tend to taper off after a while, Kay Kay’s held steady. She also noticed that Kay Kay’s video likes increased almost uniforming on certain days, and days with low likes were compensated the day after with a spike in likes.

Kay Kay wrote a post on Instagram denying Xiaxue’s claims.