Investing.com - Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:0700) fell 1.5% on Thursday morning in Asia following reports that a Chinese regulator singled out the company’s popular news app for spreading “vulgar and lowbrow content that was harmful and damaging to the internet ecosystem.”
Citing a notice the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) distributed to media, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday evening that the CAC had accused Tencent’s “Tian Tian Kuai Bao”, which means “fast daily news,” of spreading vulgar information that “damaged the online environment.”
The app was previously taken down from the Android store in China last April after the Chinese watchdog asked the company to make changes to the content it was delivering.
Tencent has been ordered to overhaul its operations, the watchdog said in the notice, adding that it shut down nearly 9,382 apps and closed 733 websites over the past six months.
The Chinese internet giant was already under pressure earlier this week after its games were once again absent from a list of new titles to be approved by Chinese regulators.
The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television ended a 10-month-long halt on video-games approvals in December, giving the green light to a total of 260 games. Tencent has yet to have any of its titles approved so far.