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.
WeChat said on Friday that it will implement the changes in phases, starting with allowing users to access links in private, one-to-one chats once they upgraded to the latest version of WeChat, although it would continue to follow principles such as preventing excessive marketing.
The plan will be carried out based on legal requirements and with the approval of regulatory authorities, it added.
Under the old practice, WeChat users were not able to click directly through links to e-commerce marketplaces such as Taobao and Tmall, which are operated by Alibaba Group.
Instead they would be asked to open the link in a browser like Safari, which many had found problematic.
