China censors WeChat to 'clean up' the instant messaging space in an internet crackdown after bombings

China’s hugely popular social media App ‘’WECHAT’’- Chinese version known as-Weixin is being censored by Chinese government under a operation called "Clean Up". The Chinese govt has started this new campaign to prevent and eradicate malpractice of going against the state and PLA on instant messaging services. Further it is reported that this ‘”clean up” campaign will affect almost  all the instant messaging services massively.  Weixin or Chinese version of Wechat has more than 300 million users in China. Apart from private account used for personal use, there are many public accounts, which are owned by companies, organization or an individual for mass communication being used on WeChat and this popularity is the main reason for China shuttering WeChat. Pages such as Truth channel, Phoenix We Media, activist Xu Dane’s newsletter which has 200,000 subscribers has been blocked. Users who attempt to open this page are being greeted with a message “This account deleted”.

The Chinese IT censorship authority, State Internet Information Office (SIIO) stated that it believes that some people or organizations are using these popular services to distribute illegal and harmful information and also circulating rumours contrary to the policies of Chinese central leadership. They are expecting to trace down those people who are responsible for spreading rumours, information relating violence, terrorism and pornography, any kind of fraudulent act using instant messaging services. Authorities also encouraging the public to tip off the authorities through emails, phone calls or the website net.china.com.cn. The statement released by SIIO stated ‘we will firmly fight against infiltration from hostile forces at home and abroad,"

Wixen (weChat) is not the only service which is affected by Chinese government’s clean up campaign; other messaging services which will be affected include Alibaba’s Laiwang, Xiaomi’s Mi Talk, and China Telecom’s Yixin, among others  The above crackdown comes just days after the recent attack by Islamic fundamentalists operating in restive Northern regions of China.