Tencent was reportedly hit with a lawsuit over what a Chinese public interest group claimed was inappropriate content for children on its mobile gaming title Honor of Kings, adding to recent scrutiny of the technology giant by domestic authorities.
The Beijing Teenagers Law Aid and Research Center issued a post on social media arguing the flagship game included unsuitable content, with characters wearing low-cut clothes and showing a lack of respect for traditional culture.
Reuters reported the group filed the lawsuit in a Beijing court, arguing Tencent was flouting recently updated child proection laws.
Tencent is facing fire over the issue after it progressively lowered the age limit for the game from 18-years in 2017 to 12-years today.
Screen time
The group also claimed an in-game raffle made it likely younger users would play the game longer, putting it at odds with authorities’ attempts to reduce children’s screen time [1].
The game in question is hugely popular, with Tencent stating in November 2020 it had 100 million daily active users worldwide.
China’s government is already tightening the screw on technology companies in the country, particularly relating to competition matters.
In April, Reuters reported Tencent was on the hook for a $1 billion fine for anticompetitive behaviour and not adequately reporting past acquisitions for review.
Tencent is also facing a lawsuit [2] initiated by TikTok-owner ByteDance, which claims the company violated competition laws relating to user content on its WeChat and QQ messaging apps.
[1] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/apps/news-apps/china-restricts-child-online-gaming
[2] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/apps/news-apps/tencent-threatens-retaliation-after-bytedance-lawsuit
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk
Leave a Reply