WeChat has made its content searchable on some foreign search engines such as Google and Microsoft’s Bing, according to Reuters checks.

WeChat’s content, including articles and videos on its popular public accounts page, a function similar to a news portal, has opened to external search engines, other than its own Sogou search engine, in recent days.

The Tencent-owned messaging app also announced last month that it will start allowing users to access external links, 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. 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.

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 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.

“At the same time, WeChat will also actively cooperate with other Internet platforms to implement this guidance and explore the technical possibilities of using WeChat services on other platforms, to achieve further interconnectivity.”

© Thomson Reuters 2021