![A picture illustration shows a WeChat app icon in Beijing. [REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic]](https://i0.wp.com/boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/download-9.jpeg?resize=580%2C392)
A picture illustration shows a WeChat app icon in Beijing. [REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic]
The popular messaging WeChat, whose Chinese name translates to "micromessage", is on the Chinese government's ban-list. State media reported today that the government is initiating a month-long crackdown on the service, which is used in China to share news that the country's heavily censored internet would otherwise not permit.
"Some people are using this platform to disseminate negative or illegal harmful information to the public, seriously damaging the internet system and hurting public interest, causing dissatisfaction among internet users," an unnamed person responsible for the campaign told the state-owned China News Service.
