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The animation was intended to commemorate Martin
Luther King Jr. Day in the United States, and was only meant to
be available to WeChat users in that country, wrote Tencent's
WeChat team on their official microblog.
A technical error allowed users elsewhere to see the U.S. flags
on their screen, including in China. The function now longer
works in Hong Kong and China, according to users.
China, often criticized for its human rights violations,
operates the world's most sophisticated internet censorship
mechanism, known as the Great Firewall. Censors maintain a tight
grip on what can and can't be published online, especially
anything seen to undermine the ruling Communist Party.
"We request everybody's forgiveness," Tencent said in its post,
titled 'An explanation'. "WeChat's path to internationalization
isn't easy... We will try even harder!"
The 'civil rights' function caused some outrage amongst Chinese
internet users.
"If there's a function for Martin Luther King's birthday, what
are you going to do for Mao Zedong's and Zhou Enlai's?" wrote
one microblog user. "Rubbish WeChat."
(Reporting by Paul Carsten and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Nick
Macfie)
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