WeChat may suffer due to censorship

The Chinese government has launched a campaign to "eliminate illegal activities" in instant messaging services. This initiative could hit one of the world's most popular messengers, the Chinese WeChat.

While such services have become popular online communication tools, some people use them to spread illegal and malicious information, the Chinese state Internet Information Bureau (SIIO) said in a statement.

The campaign will primarily affect public accounts that can spread information among a large number of their followers. Despite the fact that the messenger is usually used to communicate with family and friends, there are also public accounts in it that are used for mass communication.

TheNextWeb believes that such a campaign could seriously hit WeChat, which currently has more than 800 million users (700 million are in China). The fact is that the Chinese messenger is trying to extend its influence to the United States, but after the introduction of strict censorship by the Chinese government, the implementation of these plans may be in jeopardy, because, in theory, the Chinese government will be able to ban Western users of the service.  

Source: http://thenextweb.com

Photo: Reuters