China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Tencent and other 9 apps violated the rules

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said nine Tencent apps violated the rules and ordered all the company’s apps to stop updating their new versions and accept testing by MIIT’s technical team. Scholars believe that this new round of “net clearing” is aimed at recovering public opinion.

Chinese Internet giant Tencent is bearing the brunt of the new campaign to clean up the Internet. According to CCTV.com, Caixin and other media reports, 9 Tencent products have been found to be in violation of regulations and a total of four batches have been publicly notified in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s special rectification of App infringement on users’ rights and interests since this year. The report accused Tencent of “violating relevant requirements for information and communication industry disputes in 2021”. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has taken transitional administrative guidance measures for Tencent, requiring that new App products to be released and updated versions of existing App products should be tested by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology before they can be put on the shelves.

Cai Shenkun, a commentator on current affairs, believes that the authorities’ technical inspection of Tencent’s apps is aimed at further strengthening ideological control, as both the information and game content provided by Tencent involve ideological areas. Although most of Tencent’s revenue comes from games and mobile payments, its media and interactive platforms are hugely influential. He said in an interview:

“The way people get information in China is basically through the wechat platform. The public accepts what wechat sends, and CCTV and People’s Daily have very limited audiences. Under such circumstances, I think the rectification of Tencent will gradually take the public opinion from Tencent.”

Tencent said on Monday afternoon that it is continuously upgrading its measures to protect users’ rights and interests through its App and is cooperating with regulators to conduct normal compliance tests, CCTV reported. During this period, users can normally download and use the existing version of the App. According to the test, Tencent’s apps have been downloaded normally in official and other App stores, and have not been removed, so users’ use will not be affected.

Sheng Ronghua, deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), said at a press conference last week that more than 400,000 pieces of negative and harmful information have been removed, more than 20,000 illegal accounts have been disposed of, with more than 6,500 group owners and 3,000 topics dismissed.

Mr. CAI said Tencent’s wechat team had done all it could to monitor users’ speech, but it still didn’t meet the authorities’ requirements:

“I believe that the ideological bigwigs still don’t trust that print, graphic, financial, and even music will remain firmly in their hands.”

Since the beginning of this year, The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has repeatedly targeted Tencent and other Internet companies for infringing on users’ rights and interests, including Tencent News and QQ Music.

According to the ministry’s new rules, all Tencent apps, including version changes, will need to pass the ministry’s review process from Nov 24 to Dec 31, with each review expected to take seven days. Tencent shares fell nearly 3% at one point, or 1.87%, to close at HK $472.2 on the Hong Kong stock exchange.