Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) yesterday said it plans to rein in content on WeChat (微信) by culling the number of public accounts on the platform, responding to the latest in a series of Chinese government cleanups that have rattled the Internet sector.
WeChat is cutting limits on “official accounts” — akin to verified Twitter accounts through which individuals and companies share news and information — to just one per person and two per company, the social media service said on its Web site.
That is down from five per company in the past, a reduction intended to comply with regulations on maintaining “healthy” content.
China’s cyberspace watchdogs have in the past year come down hard on its most prominent tech giants, seeking to eradicate content they deem destabilizing.
They have targeted companies such as news aggregator Bytedance Ltd (字節跳動).
WeChat, the go-to everyday app for nearly 1.1 billion people, became one of several platforms to shut 9,800 social media accounts this month.
The cap on accounts marks another setback for Tencent, which has shed more than US$200 billion in market value since peaking in January.
The company relies on content to draw users to WeChat and bolster its appeal to advertisers, and it is already facing intense competition from upstarts such as Bytedance.
On the gaming front, Tencent this week said it had no updates on when regulators would lift a freeze on licensing approvals that has hampered its ability to make money off its biggest games.
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