While not many details were revealed about this, like how it’s violating the rules, the Tencent-backed chat app has introduced many features to limit the minor’s usage and put them safe online.
WeChat Violates China’s Laws
WeChat is one of the lifelines of every Chinese in the country who use it in their daily activities. From communication to payments and games, WeChat has everything in it. Developed by the home-grown tech giant Tencent, WeChat has a “Youth Mode” for kids. It will restrict access to certain functions like payments, finding nearby people, and playing certain games when enabled. While it’s more like a parental control setting and offers fair protection, China argued that WeChat has still been violating protection rules for minors. Regarding this, Beijing’s Haidian District People’s Procuratorate has filed a civil public-interest lawsuit against WeChat on Friday. While they claimed it’s the “youth mode” in WeChat that fails to comply with the local laws protecting minors, they didn’t offer a deep explanation on how. Neither Tencent nor the plaintiff responded to a comment request from Reuters. Chinese regulators are developing a strong sense against online games, saying they were more like a “spiritual opium” for the children. Thus, to satisfy them against the beliefs, Tencent has launched limitations for minors on WeChat, on playing its popular “Honor of Kings.” The Chinese government has been on a roll of clamping down the local tech companies since early this year. After Alibaba and Baidu, it’s now approaching Tencent with various allegations. As per Reuters in April, China is preparing a penalty against Tencent as a part of its sweeping antitrust clampdown.
