Weixin Reinstates Real-Name User Verification, Allows Weibo Users to Auto-Verify
Tencent’s mobile messaging behemoth Weixin (known as WeChat outside China) is, like other Chinese messaging services, legally responsible to some extent for the content its users share. And although the service is extremely popular, users have expressed concerns about how safe it is when strangers can pretend to be whoever they want. For these reasons, the company had previously initiated an optional real-name verification system, but recently suspended it temporarily.
Tencentの巨大なモバイルメッセージサービスWeixin(中国国外でのサービス名はWeChat)は、中国の他のメッセージサービスと同じように、ユーザーがシェアするコンテンツにある程度の法的な責任を持っている。同サービスはかなりの人気があるが、他人がなりたい人になりすました場合、このサービスがどのくらい安全なのかという懸念がユーザーから上がっていた。そういう理由で、同社は以前にオプションの実名認証システムを導入したが、最近それを一時的に停止していた。
Tencentの巨大モバイルメッセージサービス、Weixin(中国国外ではWeChatとして知られる)は、中国の他メッセージサービス同様、ユーザーが共有するコンテンツについてある程度は法的に責任がある。サービスは大変な人気だが、ユーザーの間では他人がなりすましをした場合の安全性について懸念が持ち上がった。このため、同社では以前、オプションで本名認証システムを実施。だが、最近になって一時的に停止させていた。
Now, it’s back open with a brand-new auto-verification option: users who have verified accounts on Sina Weibo or Tencent Weibo can log in via those accounts to have their Weixin accounts verified automatically.
The new verification system appears to be only in effect within China, and should not affect overseas users of WeChat in any way.
この新しい認証システムは中国だけで実施されるようで、中国国外のWeChatユーザーは何の影響もないはずだ。
The system is a smart move on Tencent’s part, for several reasons. First, it greatly reduces the workload of the verification process, which would otherwise require each verification request to be processed by a Tencent employee. Second, it increases the ease of verification for new Weixin users in China and thus increases the likelihood that they will choose to verify their accounts. Finally, it allows users who would prefer to, ahem, circumnavigate real-name verification to verify via their Sina Weibo accounts (since Sina’s implementation of real-name requirements has been pretty half-assed by the company’s own admission).
As a chat app, the need for any political censorship on Weixin that would be facilitated by a real-name system is probably not as significant as it is on weibo, but the location-based nature of the app could facilitate stalking in such a way that real-name verification might become something that users actually demand. If that happens, allowing users to verify their identities via Weibo could turn out to be a bit of a mistake, as users are well aware of the holes in weibo real-name registration. But if that doesn’t happen, this change will have been a smart move for Tencent to ease the verification process both for users and for itself.