Tencent opens WeChat further to rivals

Tencent will eventually allow WeChat’s users more options for sharing content, though it didn’t elaborate. And it promised to let them tweak settings and other ways in which to manage external sharing in future. — Photo by Adem AY on Unsplash

Tencent Holdings Ltd will soon allow WeChat groups to display links to external shopping sites such as Alibaba’s Tmall and Taobao, taking another step toward dismantling longstanding barriers erected across China’s most popular social media service.

Tencent will begin testing a function “soon” to allow group-chat participants to share links to third-party e-commerce platforms, it said in a brief, official blogpost Monday. Directed by regulators, the company will eventually allow WeChat’s users more options for sharing content, though it didn’t elaborate. And it promised to let them tweak settings and other ways in which to manage external sharing in future.