Tencent’s ubiquitous messaging app, WeChat, is requesting users choose between mainland China and overseas accounts in a move towards compliance with China’s increasingly strict laws and regulations concerning data sovereignty and content censorship, reports South China Morning Post.
Some users of Weixin, the Chinese name for WeChat used to refer to domestic accounts, who had foreign phone numbers attached to their accounts have received notifications asking them to change to international accounts, according to Chinese tech media IThome.
WeChat confirmed that some users received the notification, but did not elaborate. After a user switches to a WeChat account, the company will move the account’s data to servers dedicated to overseas accounts within 10 working days, the notification said. Certain features such as the short video section, health codes and live streaming may be no longer available to them.