[New Tang Dynasty News from August 07, 2021, Beijing time]The Chinese Communist Party has successively launched tactics to crack down on Internet technology companies. Party media has just criticized Tencent’s online games by name, and the Haidian District Procuratorate of Beijing has announced a prosecution against WeChat for “violating the legal rights and interests of minors,” and notified institutions and organizations that intend to sue Tencent to contact the prosecutor.
On August 6, Beijing’s Haidian District Procuratorate issued an announcement stating that Tencent’s WeChat product “Youth Mode” did not comply with the relevant provisions of the “Minors Protection Law” and “infringed on the legitimate rights and interests of minors and involved public interests.” Tencent filed a civil public interest lawsuit.
The announcement also stated that, according to the “Civil Procedure Law”, institutions and related organizations specified by the law can initiate civil public interest litigation, and the prosecution can support the prosecution (accusation). Any organization or institution that intends to sue Tencent can contact it within 30 days.
Tencent responded after the Haidian prosecutor’s announcement, stating that it would “conscientiously conduct self-inspection and self-examination” of WeChat’s “Youth Mode” function, and “openly accept” user suggestions and “sincerely respond to” civil public interest litigation.
WeChat launched the “Youth Mode” in October 2020. After this mode is turned on, in theory, parents can set the open range of products such as video (movie) accounts, official accounts, and mini programs, restrict young users from initiating live broadcasts and use live broadcasts for rewards, and turn off functions such as mini games, Q coin recharge, and credit cards. But there are still many problems in actual citations.
The prosecution of WeChat’s “youth mode” is the latest in a series of blows to Tencent. Prior to this, Chinese technology giants such as Tencent and Alibaba had been subject to an “antitrust investigation” by the authorities, and were fined and reprimanded.
On August 3 and 5, two central government media criticized online game companies one after another, and one of them named Tencent. Tencent and many other online game companies’ share prices plummeted twice.
Radio Free Asia quoted an analysis by economists who pointed out that the official media criticized individual industries, and it may be that the Chinese Communist government borrowed official articles to manipulate the market. However, the outside world cannot be sure whether this is just a kind of macro-control or the beginning of a major purge, which will make the financial market panic, and investors will be at a loss.
In July of this year, it was reported that the Beijing authorities would strengthen the supervision of technology and Internet stocks, which triggered a wave of dumping of Chinese concept stocks by international investors. The Chinese and Hong Kong stock markets continued to fall.
The German “Business Daily” recently published a comment entitled “China’s Digital Economy Is Going to Demise”, stating that although Xi Jinping praised the positive role of the digital industry, he also emphasized that the real economy is the cornerstone of China’s economic development. The article said that in the Sino-US competition, Beijing has obviously underestimated the important role of the platform economy in the digital transformation, which may lead its industrial policy into a dead end.
Current political commentator Tang Jingyuan believes that the CCP has successively attacked technology and Internet companies and off-campus training industries. It is accused of “playing suicide games” amidst economic difficulties. It may be that the authorities have deliberately tightened ideology, squeezed non-physical industries, and eliminated them. Technology giant wings, lightening the burden of having multiple births, etc., these tactics are still mostly copying Mao Zedong’s work, except for a more modern and fashionable vest, which is more concealed.
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has continuously strengthened its control and suppression of private enterprises, and has been accused of signs of returning to the “planned economy.”
(Reporter Zheng Gusheng Comprehensive Report / Chief Editor: Lin Qing)
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