China’s Big Tech crackdown: WeChat’s suspension of sign-ups adds to uncertainty
- Since its launch in January 2011, WeChat has undergone about 100 updates, but it is rare for it to be unavailable for new users for days at a time
- One of the country’s top government bodies responsible for regulating the tech industry said it has launched a six-month campaign to address ‘tough problems’
Chinese tech giant Tencent’s decision to suspend new user registrations for its ubiquitous WeChat app to conduct a security upgrade has raised fresh concerns about the intensity and depth of Beijing’s regulatory push into the tech sector.
Weixin, the mainland Chinese version of WeChat, has suspended new user registrations until early August so it can upgrade its “security technology to align with all relevant laws and regulations”, the company said in a brief statement on Wednesday, after many users found they were unable to register for new accounts.
Tencent did not elaborate on details of the upgrade.
Existing users of Weixin are not affected and people outside mainland China, including Hong Kong, are able to register new accounts on the international version called WeChat.
The local and international versions of the app have a combined 1.24 billion daily active users and in China, virtually every mobile phone is loaded with the app, which supports voice, text, payments and other services.
Since its launch in January 2011, the popular social app has undergone about 100 updates, but it is rare for the app to be unavailable for new users for days.
