WeChat third-party blockchain app in hot water over ‘violation of service’

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Chinese social media app WeChat has suspended a blockchain-based program, less than a day after its launch. According to local news, Xiao Xieyi was suspended for offering services that were not open to WeChat.

WeChat launched Xiao Xieyi last Wednesday to help encrypt user information on the platform. This is done by creating contract agreements and special social media IDs using blockchain technology, ensuring that not only users, but also the content are authentic and reliable.

According to reports, the process would take a user an average of three minutes to key in the needed details. The process, however, was not free; users would be charge CNY 3 (US$0.47) or more depending on the amount of works. After verifying the information and making the payments, user details would be stored on the Ethereum network.

WeChat, however, decided to suspend Xiao Xieyi less than a day after the launch “due to violation of service.” In a statement, Beijing-based blockchain service platform Niuco Box apologized for the snafu, saying “the content of the program has been suspended due to the fact that the content is not authorized on the platform.”

WeChat is a social media messaging and payment application by Tencent. It was first launched in 2011 and has become the most popular social network platform in China and Bhutan. In his statement, Tencent President Ma Huateng said WeChat has about 1 billion users monthly, making it the fifth largest social network platform in the world.

Social media giants have started training their sights on blockchain technology. Facebook, for instance, recently formed a task force that would explore the technology “from scratch.”

Meanwhile, blockchain-based social platforms that promises “uncensorable” way to store data and transactional information are being developed recently. Memo, for instance, is an on-chain social network developed on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain that allows the recording and storage of data on the chain through its front-end protocol, tied to individual BCH addresses and keys.

On the heels of Memo was Blockpress, another on-chain social network based on Bitcoin Cash blockchain that allows people to create, share and, connect with each other without the involvement of intermediaries.