WeChat has cruised into the battle for car-hailing supremacy currently underway in China, recently blocking Uber accounts used for social media promotion.
The move has raised some eyebrows, particularly since Tencent – the maker of WeChat – is heavily invested in Uber’s main competitor, Didi Kuaidi. The connection has already spurred concerns of unfair play on the part of Tencent, concerns the company has rebuffed.
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In an article released several days ago, Tencent claims that it deleted 168 Uber accounts. The company claims these accounts were responsible for a number of violations including the illegal collection of user data and providing incentives for sharing Uber related material.
According to Tech in Asia, the large number of deleted accounts suggests that many were fake profiles, although it should be noted the official accounts were also blocked.
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Tencent also pointed out that it removed 136 Didi Kuaidi accounts, thought it was not specified whether those accounts were imposters. At press time Didi’s official accounts were still in operation.
With the loss of Uber’s largest marketing platform in the PRD, they hastily announced two new services - ubernihao.com (in Guangzhou) and ubercduip.com (in Chengdu) – to help combat the blockage. Similar promotions were also quickly planned for Shenzhen, Foshan, Tianjin and Xiamen.
This is not the first time WeChat has removed Uber accounts, in March of this year the car-hailing app’s accounts were first blocked for allegedly violating the WeChat terms of use. At the time, Tech in Asia reported that the ban would be short lived, as WeChat punishes accounts with a seven-day block for enticing users to share content. It is unclear whether the current ban will be as short lived…
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