Tencent’s giveaway campaign for AI chatbot Yuanbao blocked – by WeChat

South China Morning PostCenter-RightEN 1 min read 100% complete by Iris Deng,Coco FengFebruary 4, 2026 at 06:01 AM

AI Summary

short article 1 min

Tencent's WeChat blocked access to links from Tencent's own AI chatbot, Yuanbao, on Wednesday, citing user complaints about "induced sharing." Yuanbao's campaign, launched four days prior, aimed to distribute 1 billion yuan via digital red packets, incentivizing users to share links on WeChat to increase their rewards. WeChat stated that this practice disrupted the platform's ecosystem, negatively impacting user experience and causing community harassment. The block prevents WeChat users from directly opening Yuanbao links, potentially hindering Yuanbao's campaign and Tencent's efforts to gain ground in the competitive AI market, as the campaign heavily relied on WeChat's extensive user base for referrals and payouts.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

United States 30% Beijing 40% Jiang Ruipeng ×250% Tencent ×490% Yuanbao ×590% WeChat (Weixin) ×7100%

Keywords

yuanbao 90% wechat 90% ai chatbot 80% tencent 80% giveaway campaign 70% digital red packets 70% induced sharing 70% ai market 60% user experience 60% platform ecosystem 50%