“WeChat’s youth mode is illegal” Chinese Prosecutors Say | China steps up reigning-in Tencent.

The messaging app does not comply with laws protecting children, say Chinse prosecutors, in fresh crackdown on tech firms

Chinese state media article described online games as “spiritual opium”.

Tencent on Tuesday announced new curbs on minors’ access to its flagship video game, Honor of Kings, after its shares were battered.

In April, Reuters reported that China was preparing a substantial fine for Tencent as part of its sweeping antitrust clampdown on the country’s internet giants. But it is likely to be less than the record $2.75 billion penalty imposed on Alibaba.

Prosecutors in Beijing have initiated a civil lawsuit against a subsidiary of Tencent, saying the “youth mode” on the company’s popular social messaging app WeChat does not comply with laws protecting minors.

The lawsuit was initiated on Friday by Beijing’s Haidian district people’s procuratorate against Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems, according to a filing posted on JCRB.com, a website run by China’s top prosecutor, Reuters reported.

The document did not say how WeChat’s “youth mode” broke Chinese law. It said it could support other agencies and organisations that intended to bring lawsuits against the Tencent unit and asked them to contact the prosecutor’s office within 30 days.

Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

WeChat’s “youth mode”, when turned on, limits young users’ access to some games and functions, such as payments or finding nearby friends.

Chinese authorities have called for minors to be better protected from online dangers, a sentiment echoed by state media this week which criticised the video gaming industry as well as online platforms that help promote celebrity culture.

What Are
Geo-Poli-
Cyber™
Warfare
& Risks?

What Are Geo-Poli-Cyber™ (GPCyber™) Warfare, Risks & Threats?

Definition
Geo-Poli-Cyber™ warfare has spread worldwide in recent years and is impacting everyone without exception through cyber attacks that are political, ideological, terrorist, extremist, ‘religious’ and/or geo-politically motivated. They are perpetrated by political and extremist groups, national security agencies and/or their proxies, and lone wolves.

Cyber security strategies and solutions that are followed like gospel have failed and will continue to fail to mitigate, defend and protect national sovereignty and corporate security from Geo-Poli-Cyber™ attacks on unprecedented scales and with devastating political, social, and financial consequences.
More Sinister and Destructive Than Financial Motivations

Geo-Poli-Cyber™ attacks are significantly different from financially motivated cyber-attacks in damage, scale, magnitude and require different and upscaled risk mitigation strategies and solutions.

Why Do Existing Strategies & Solution keep failing?

MLi Group chairman Khaled Fattal created the terms Poli-Cyber™ and Geo-Poli-Cyber™ (GPCyber™) back in 2012 because of seismic game-changing events he had observed years before. Fattal believed that these events and trends will cause …

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