Could you let us in on your insider sources who know what happened to them during that time?

I remember thinking about this recently and coming to the same conclusion[0]. If Jack Ma was supposedly disappeared and placed under arrest while also denying that he was ever placed under an official arrest then there's some background shenanigans going on by the CCP. Not to say that can't happen, just that it's not more likely than Jack Ma realizing that he poked a very vengeful bear[1] and deciding to lay low. Peng Shuai might be different (I haven't encountered information on that case recently that comes to mind) but it's fair to assume the same thing from her.

Otherwise the CCP did disappear at least one of them, which, admittedly, might happen if the appropriate decision-makers were willing to put such an operation into motion. That just doesn't really seem so significantly more likely than people choosing to retreat from the spotlight.

[0] Because I encountered this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35775826

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35424678

"They were both temporarily excluded from the public eye, but they were not arrested."

Does a rose by any other name smell as sweet?