Amid lawsuit, China's Tencent to review kids' use of WeChat

China’s biggest gaming company, Tencent, says it will review whether it adequately limits children’s access to live streaming and other features

BEIJING -- China’s biggest gaming company, Tencent, said it would review whether it adequately limits children’s access to live streaming and other features after the government expanded a regulatory crackdown on tech industries by initiating a lawsuit against the company for failing to do enough to protect young users. The online gaming industry was shaken this week when an official newspaper criticized their offerings as “spiritual opium” and cited examples of students playing Tencent’s wildly popular Honor of Kings game for hours. The lawsuit filed Friday by Beijing prosecutors against a Tencent subsidiary complains the company infringes the “legitimate rights and interests of minors” but didn’t explain how. In the notice, prosecutors said that other agencies and organizations which intend to bring lawsuits against the subsidiary should contact prosecutors within 30 days. Tencent is best known abroad as the operator of the popular WeChat messaging system. It is one of the world’s 10 most valuable tech companies, with a stock market capitalization of about $560 billion.