(Yicai Global) June 21 -- Chinese news aggregator Jinri Toutiao has denied rumors circulating online about its aim to seek funding to reach USD35 billion valuation.

News about Jinri Toutiao's valuation, as well as the alleged involvement of Jack Ma's Yunfeng Capital in these negotiations, is fake, Tencent's financial data platform Yixian reported the news firm's parent Bytedance Technology, as saying.

Beijing-based Jinri Toutiao has had a rough year. First, the platform got on Chinese internet watchdog's target list regarding its crackdown on online sleaze. Moreover, Tencent filed a lawsuit at the beginning of this month against the operators of Jinri Toutiao and another rival Douyin for unfair competition.

Editor: Emmi Laine