Alibaba Fires Employee After Rape Accusation

On Weibo, many women seized on the Alibaba employee’s description of her treatment by superiors, including their dismissal of her accusations and other behavior. In the essay, the employee said that her boss, on the work trip in Jinan, told their clients: “Look how good I am to you, I brought you a beauty.”

Other people online criticized China’s drinking culture, in which business is often conducted over alcohol-fueled meals. Several people raised concerns about whether Alibaba could shut down the discussion, given the company’s size and influence.

Alibaba’s own employees are pushing back. More than 4,000 of them formed a #MeToo group on the company intranet condemning the woman’s boss.

After filing a police report, the Alibaba employee said she viewed video footage outside her hotel room, which showed her boss entering her room four times. She accused him in the essay of duplicating her key to gain entry. She said she woke up nude on the morning of July 28 and found a box of condoms in her room.

In her essay, the employee said she had reported the incident to her superiors, who asked for video evidence. She said she was told that the company had decided not to fire her boss “because they were considering my reputation.” She said she was removed from a company chat group after posting her accusations.

In a post on Alibaba’s intranet, Mr. Zhang said he was “shocked, angry and ashamed” about the incident. He said the supervisors in charge of this matter owed the employee an apology for “not handling it quickly,” according to a screenshot of the post viewed by The New York Times.

“This is not just an isolated event,” Mr. Zhang wrote. “Starting from me, the managers, human resources, each of us in Ali must be deeply stirred by this, reflect and take action.”

Raymond Zhong and Elsie Chen contributed reporting.