Tencent gives into regulator, allows WeChat users access to rivals’ links

Tencent Holdings’s popular WeChat messaging app will start allowing users to access external links from Friday, days after regulators told the company and its rivals to end a long-standing practice of blocking each other’s links. China’s technology giants have historically prevented links and services by rivals from being shared on their platforms. On Monday, however, regulators said they were ordering firms to rectify this as the practice affected users’ experience and damaged consumer rights.

The move is part of a broader regulatory crackdown on the industry that has wiped billions of dollars off the market value of some of China’s largest companies.