Along with WeChat facing greater regulatory scrutiny, Alibaba has separately suspended various staff who have been accused of sexually assaulting a fellow female employee.
Beijing prosecutors have launched a civil public lawsuit against Tencent, accusing Tencent’s subsidiary WeChat of not complying with laws focused on protecting minors. According to the complaint, WeChat’s «youth mode» allegedly breached China’s laws focused on protecting minors. In the complaint, the prosecutors did not specify how those laws were breached. WeChat’s «youth mode», when turned on, limits access to certain games and functions, such as payments and finding nearby friends. In addition to making these allegations, the complaint stated other Chinese regulatory agencies could file related lawsuits within 30 days due to findings made by the prosecutors. Chinese authorities as of late have increasingly called for minors to be better protected online, with the government issuing a mandate late last month for people under the age of 16 to be banned from appearing in content within online live-streaming and video platforms.
