Tencent's messaging app WeChat target of latest crackdown by officials

The authorities will begin a month-long crackdown on Tencent Holdings' popular WeChat messaging application, state media reported, the latest in a series of curbs on online expression.

WeChat, whose Chinese name means micro-message, has quickly become a news source for mobile phone users on the mainland, where most traditional news outlets are heavily censored.

"Some people are using this platform to disseminate negative, harmful or illegal information to the public, seriously damaging the internet system and hurting the public interest," according to a report on state-owned China News Service, alleging the messaging service was "causing dissatisfaction among internet users".

The crackdown would focus on accounts sending information with the ability to "communicate [widely] and mobilise society", the report said.

Accounts accused of spreading rumours and ideas about violence, terrorism, cheating and sex would be targeted, said the report.

Tencent could not be immediately reached for comment.