WeChat uses pop-up alert to contest rumours about blocking Shanghai lockdown posts as censors increase pressure on platforms
- Screenshots had circulated that WeChat had assembled a team to write new codes to separate users of Moments
- Sharing screenshots of posts making the separation accusation will prompt a pop-up notification from WeChat dismissing the claims
WeChat, the multipurpose super-app from Tencent Holdings, has implemented a pop-up notification denying rumours that it has restricted Shanghai-related posts to local users only, amid pressure from authorities for online platforms to police Covid-19 content relating to the city.
Screenshots started circulating over the weekend that WeChat, a ubiquitous app in China, had assembled a team to write new codes to separate users of Moments, a social network service within the app, based on their location and to prevent those outside Shanghai from reading posts by users based in the city.
WeChat has denied the claims and from Sunday, sharing screenshots of posts making the separation accusation will result in a pop-up notification from WeChat dismissing the claims.
“The information being reported [about separating users] is untrue,” the notification says, when a user tries to forward contested screenshots from group chats. “The government and official media have publicly debunked the rumour … [we] suggest verification before forwarding [this message].”
Users can still choose to forward the screenshot, or click on a “know more” link that redirects them to a statement on WeChat’s official cybersecurity page, with a similar message about how the information is false.
