Alibaba Shuts Down API for WeChat Public Accounts
National Business Daily, 8/01/13
According to a knowledgeable source, Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group has blocked application programmer interface (API) access to marketing services offered by members of its Taoke Taobao affiliate network integrated with Tencent's (0700.HK) WeChat (Weixin) mobile messaging application. In an official release on the matter, Alibaba stated that it had discovered that a number of Alibaba merchants used WeChat marketing to bother or harass users, and even move entire e-commerce transactions outside of Alibaba's safe payment system, presenting customers with potential transaction risks. In order to ensure a quality user experience and protect from e-commerce transaction danger, Alibaba has temporarily disabled third-party WeChat integration services.
WeChat is planning to implement measures to limit the amount of advertising material that can be sent by Alibaba merchants to WeChat users. Alibaba has stated that this will protect WeChat users and is in line with Alibaba's user protection philosophy.
Accounts most affected by the ban are Taobao public accounts used solely for sending advertising material to users. Features such as subscriber messaging (sending messages to public account followers) have been shut down for a number accounts, including accounts with several hundred thousand followers.
Keywords: e-commerce Taobao marketing wireless Tencent mobile advertising user experience 0700.HK Taoke Alibaba Group WeChat mobile IM C2C B2C
Sending
