Chinese video-sharing platform operator Bilibili said in an internal letter on Monday that the sudden death of a young employee was not caused by working overtime.

The death of the 25-year-old in the Chinese city of Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, last week sparked speculation over whether it was related to his work at Bilibili, the Chinese video streaming company listed in New York and Hong Kong.

In an internal letter seen by the South China Morning Post, Bilibili said an employee working in the photo and text auditing department of the content security centre, the in-house unit which monitors content uploaded by users, died on Friday.

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The employee felt uncomfortable at home during the afternoon and was sent to a local hospital for emergency treatment, according to the letter. His supervisor, manager and Bilibili's human resources director went to the hospital after he was admitted, but the employee passed away at about 8pm due to a cerebral haemorrhage.

In the internal letter, the company denied online rumours that the death was caused by overwork.

"According to an internal attendance check, he came and left work at normal hours from 9.30am to 6.30pm, he had 5 working days and took two days off," the letter said.

"There were no circumstances where he did over time a week before the incident. We have set up a special task team and have been working with the police and his relatives to settle the case."

Bilibili did not issue a public statement on the matter, and declined to provide further details about the case, saying the employee's age and name were private.

Police have not issued a statement about the case.

The death has renewed debate about the unhealthy work culture in China's tech sector, known for its high pressure and long working hours. The infamous 996 culture - working 12 hours a day, six days a week, or longer - has become a source of public complaints, prompting many large Chinese tech companies to pledge limits to the working hours of their employees.

Those pledges came after a number of employee deaths at Chinese tech firms shocked the country. In one case in December 2020, a young female worker at social commerce giant Pinduoduo collapsed and died on her way home after a midnight shift.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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