Tencent resumes new user sign-ups on WeChat after ‘security upgrade’ last week

WeChat had paused new users registrations so it could upgrade its ‘security technology to align with all relevant laws and regulations’. According to tests conducted by the South China Morning Post on Thursday, the Shenzhen-based company has reopened the app to new sign-ups. — SCMP

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings has resumed new user registrations for its ubiquitous superapp WeChat after it suspended new sign-ups last week while it conducted a “security upgrade”, a move which had raised concerns over the intensity and depth of Beijing’s regulatory push into the tech sector.

Weixin, the mainland Chinese version of WeChat, had paused new users registrations so it could upgrade its “security technology to align with all relevant laws and regulations”, the company said in a brief statement at the time.