0824 GMT - Weibo's profitability could face greater near-term pressure, says Fitch Ratings in a note, citing intense competition, a challenging macroeconomic environment and increased investment to maintain the Chinese internet platform's competitiveness. Competition from alternative social media platforms such as ByteDance's Douyin and Xiaohongshu, known internationally as Rednote, could weigh on Weibo's advertising revenue in the near term, says Fitch. Higher investment in video-content marketing and artificial-intelligence-enabled product operations could constrain Weibo's margins in 2H and 2027, Fitch adds. Fitch says visibility on the timing and pace of a material recovery remains limited. It revises its outlook on Weibo's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings to negative from stable. Shares closed 3.0% lower at 50.15 Hong Kong dollars.