Beijing prosecutors initiate lawsuit from Tencent over WeChat’s ‘youth mode’
BEIJING, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Beijing prosecutors initiated a civil general public-curiosity lawsuit towards a Tencent (0700.HK) subsidiary on Friday, declaring the “youth method” on the firm’s preferred social messaging application WeChat does not comply with rules guarding minors.
The lawsuit was initiated by Beijing’s Haidian District People’s Procuratorate towards Shenzhen Tencent Computer system Systems Co Ltd, according to a submitting posted on JCRB.com, a site operate by China’s leading prosecutor.
The submitting did not say how WeChat’s “youth mode” broke Chinese legislation. Tencent did not immediately react to a ask for for comment.
WeChat’s “youth manner”, when turned on, restrictions young users’ accessibility to some game titles and features, these kinds of as payments or locating close by close friends.
Chinese authorities have named for minors to be much better protected from on the internet dangers, a sentiment echoed by condition media this week which criticised the video gaming sector as well as on the net platforms that support boost movie star culture.
Tencent on Tuesday announced new curbs on minors’ accessibility to its flagship movie video game, “Honor of Kings”, just after its shares were being battered by a state media report that explained on line online games as “religious opium”. read far more
Reuters claimed in April, citing people today acquainted with the make any difference, that China is planning a substantial high-quality for Tencent as section of its sweeping antitrust clampdown on the country’s world wide web giants, but it is probable to be significantly less than the report $2.75 billion penalty imposed on Alibaba (9988.HK).
(This tale corrects to say Beijing prosecutors initiated the lawsuit, not filed in paragraph 1-2)
Reporting by Yilei Sunlight and Brenda Goh in Beijing, and Twinnie Siu in Hong Kong
Enhancing by Susan Fenton and Andrew Heavens
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