China Sues Tencent Over WeChat’s Youth Mode

Chinese prosecutors have sued Tencent, claiming the “youth mode” on its WeChat app is against laws protecting minors and teenagers. When WeChat is used in youth mode, it restricts younger users’ access to functions like mobile payments, as well as certain games.

According to a report by Reuters, the suit doesn’t specify how the app’s youth mode violates the law but the action comes a few days after a state-owned Chinese newspaper referred to online games as “opium for the mind.”

The lawsuit recently filed by Beijing prosecutors against a Tencent subsidiary complains the company infringes the “legitimate rights and interests of minors”. In the notice, prosecutors said that other agencies and organizations which intend to bring lawsuits against the subsidiary should contact prosecutors within 30 days.

Responding to the ongoing lawsuit in a statement on its social media account, the WeChat team promised to conduct “self-examination of the functions of WeChat Youth Mode” and “sincerely respond to the civil public interest litigation.”

“We attach great importance to the healthy growth of young people, and WeChat will actively assume the social responsibility of protecting and guiding young people,” the statement said.

Tencent and other Chinese tech giants including e-commerce platform Alibaba Group have been fined and reprimanded in a series of anti-monopoly, data protection and other enforcement campaigns launched since last year.

The share prices of Tencent, Alibaba, ride-hailing service Didi Global and other companies have fallen on foreign stock exchanges while investors wait to see how far the crackdown will go.

Regulators say they are taking action to protect consumers, market competition and smaller companies. Foreign commentators also see an effort by the ruling Communist Party to force China’s biggest private sector companies to align with Beijing’s official industry and economic development plans.