WeChat Cracks Down on Online Donations for Unauthorized Religious Services

Public accounts on Wechat pass themselves off as religious organizations and seek donations from users. Tencent's WeChat team said in a statement on Monday that the company will ban links for providing such donations. Photo: Caixin

(Beijing) — China's most widely used messaging service, WeChat, is clamping down on bogus religious organizations selling spiritual services on its app.

Users who are not registered religious organizations are no longer allowed to solicit donations to perform virtual or real rituals, Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., which owns WeChat, said in an announcement Tuesday.