China : The Chinese internet giant Tencent said it had temporarily suspended new user registrations for its hugely popular WeChat app, raising fears of new regulatory pressures even as it insisted the outage was the result of a technical upgrade.
Tencent said in a statement that the shutdown, which affected only new users and groups registering for the app, would be over by early August and was part of a fix to its security technology.
The timing of the suspension left investors uneasy, with concerns mounting that a regulatory rampage aimed at the technology sector could heavily affect Tencent, China’s largest internet company. By far the company’s most important product, WeChat dominates Chinese social media, allowing users to do everything from share photos and chat to pay for coffee and pay bills.
TNYT
