Tencent complies with gag order

CHINA will force real-name registrations on users of instant messaging tools and require public accounts wishing to publish or reprint political news to seek prior approval, state media said this week.

Last year, China launched a campaign to clamp down on online rumour mongering and “clean up” the internet. The crackdown has led to an exodus of users from Twitter-like microblog platforms such as Weibo Corporation’s Weibo after authorities detained hundreds of outspoken users.

The new curbs will likely affect hugely popular mobile messaging apps like Tencent Holdings’s WeChat, a big moneyspinner for part-owner, SA’s Naspers media group. WeChat has almost 400 million users.

Accounts that had not been approved by the instant messaging service provider were forbidden to publish or reprint political news, said the official Xinhua news agency.

Users also had to sign an agreement with the service provider when they register, promising “to comply with the law, the socialist system, the national interest, citizens’ legal rights, public order, social moral customs, and authenticity of information”, said Xinhua.

The rules “could cool down the traffic of WeChat public accounts and discourage journalists from setting up individual WeChat public accounts”, said Fu King-wa, an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre.

Tencent said it would work within the new regulations. “We will take measures against offensive and abusive activities to ensure compliance with relevant regulations,” a spokeswoman said.

As apps such as WeChat have grown in popularity, they have increasingly come under the ruling Communist Party’s gaze.

“WeChat and social media are now truly mass media and regulated as such,” said Duncan Clark, chairman of Beijingbased tech advisory BDA.

“There are challenges, of course, in regulating [WeChat], but the party will never loosen up,” said Clark.—