Tencent’s WeChat has quickly suspended registration of new customers in mainland China because it undergoes a technical improve “to align with relevant laws and regulations”, China’s dominant prompt messaging platform mentioned on Tuesday. “We are presently upgrading our safety expertise to align with all related legal guidelines and laws,” the corporate mentioned in a press release to Reuters. “During this time, registration of new weixin private and official accounts has been temporarily suspended. Registration services will be restored after the upgrade is complete, which is expected in early August,” it added.
Weixin is the Chinese title for WeChat. Shares in Tencent plunged 9.0 p.c in Hong Kong on Tuesday amid widespread market jitters over Chinese regulatory crackdowns on high-growth sectors, together with on-line platforms and, most lately, non-public tutoring. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index (.HSI) fell 4.2 p.c. China is within the course of of tightening insurance policies in the direction of privateness and information safety. It is making ready a Personal Information Protection Law, which requires tech platforms to impose stricter measures to make sure safe storage of consumer information.
Beijing-based tech guide Zhou Zhanggui mentioned traders had been over-reacting to the “rectification” of Chinese tech corporations. “The suspension of new user registrations on WeChat has no substantial impact on Tencent in the short term,” Zhou mentioned. Keso Hong, an unbiased trade analyst, mentioned Tencent’s share worth decline was triggered by modifications within the general regulatory surroundings, together with the crackdown on tutoring corporations. “It happened today after the market panic kept building up,” he mentioned.
