WeChat (Photo : WeChat)
The operators of WeChat, a popular networking app in China, assured regulators that its charging of a one yuan ($0.15) fee for viewers to have clearer view of photos would not lead to pornographic content.
WeChat made the clarification a day after it had a test run on Tuesday wherein 18 million users participated. The new function that would permit user to post blurred personal images and then charge their friends a fee to make the picture clearer. The firm would official launch the function on Feb. 7, the eve of Spring Festival.
The charging of a small fee is keeping in line with a Chinese tradition wherein “lucky money” is sent to friends and relatives to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Because of apprehension that the function could be used to send lewd image, the public security bureau in Xi’an in Shaanxi Province warned WeChat that spreading porn content for money is crime, reported Global Times.
The post on Weibo stated, “Whoever, for the purpose of profit, produces, duplicates, publishes, sells or disseminate pornographic materials shall be sentenced to a fixed length of imprisonment.”
However, WeChat assured, “It’s not true that the new function will trigger the spread of pornographic information.” The company said its strict review system for porn data, which uses people and technology, would ensure the app is not being used to disseminate lewd content, although some of those who joined the test run used teasing titles such as “intimate photo between me and my husband.”
China’s strict censorship laws has not abated the appetite of Chinese for porn. In April 2014, Beijing launched a major anti-porn campaign online, “Cleaning the Web 2014” which was a cyberspace raid on websites, video links, instant messaging platforms including WeChat and Weibo, online storage services and video streaming services that were unlicensed, reported ECNS.
