Tencent Tightens Real-Name Verification for WeChat Official Accounts
Beijing Business Today, 5/27/13
On the afternoon of May 24, Chinese internet and mobile services firm Tencent (0700.HK) sent a message to owners of "public accounts" on its WeChat (Weixin) mobile messaging platform, informing them that Tencent will require account owners to submit proof of identity matching their public account registration data if they have not already done so. Tencent will automatically "de-verify" public accounts with invalid real-name verification data as of May 28, and account owners will be able to restart the verification process.
Zhang Yanbin, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's (MIIT) China Academy of Telecommunication Research (CATR) TeleInfo Institute, said on the morning of May 24 that the MIIT was drafting oversight and management plans for WeChat and other OTT service providers. According to Zhang, WeChat and similar services have made it more difficult for authorities to discover and eliminate harmful information, and have increased the risk of breaches of user privacy. Security and privacy will reportedly be focal areas of the MIIT's efforts to bring services into line.
At present, WeChat users need only submit valid personal data — including photographs and national ID card numbers — to the WeChat public account platform to set up a public account. In November 2012, Tencent further opened the public accounts verification system to public accounts with 500 or more subscribers whose owners also have valid Tencent or Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo microblogs.
Editor's Note: For more background on this topic, please see "WeChat Starts Real-Name Verification of Public Accounts" MD 4/03/13 issue and "WeChat Reinstates "Public" Account Verification" MD 11/22/12 issue.
Keywords: wireless Tencent CATR MIIT 0700.HK WeChat real name system mobile IM Zhang Yanbin regulation
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