Confusion over WeChat blocks

Dozens of influential public accounts on WeChat, a popular mobile social media app provided by Tencent, were blocked by the company Thursday.

Users of WeChat found Thursday night that they were unable to check the content of some public accounts they subscribe to, with the app alerting them that the account had been reported for malpractices by a large number of users.

A number of the accounts produce articles on current affairs and social phenomena, such as the account of Luo Changping, a journalist whose revelations in 2012 successfully brought down Liu Tienan, the former head of the National Energy Administration, and the one set up by Xu Danei, a columnist of Financial Times Chinese.

In a statement sent to the Global Times on Friday, Tencent said WeChat forbids malicious marketing or services that induce users to share within their circle of friends on the platform, and it does not allow practices that violate laws and regulations, such as issuing content related to pornography, violence and political rumors.

Netizens expressed their discontent at being unable to read content that the accounts provide, while some of those with blocked accounts don't think their service fall into the scope of the behavior that Tencent had banned.

"Tencent said the content of our account was suspended after receiving lots of complaints from the users. It has not yet replied to the request for elaboration," an editor surnamed Liu from 21coom.net, or Consensus Web, a website that produces content on political and historical research on China, told the Global Times.

A string of campaigns against online opinion leaders on Weibo, a Twitter-like microblog service, was carried out by authorities last year in the name of cracking down on online rumors. Many have since turned to the more private WeChat service.