Tencent Holdings, the Chinese company that owns popular messaging app WeChat has closed about 20 million accounts linked to prostitution.
The company has also shut down 30,000 fake public accounts, 250,000 accounts for allegedly disseminating malicious links.
These accounts have been closed following crack down by Chinese authorities under an operation, "Thunder Action".
Closed user accounts are about 5% of WeChat’s 396 million active user base.
The Chinese media had reported last month that the government started a month-long drive to remove malpractices in the messaging services like WeChat.
State Internet Information Office (SIIO) earlier told that the messaging services are being used to distribute ‘illegal and harmful information, seriously undermining public interests and order in cyberspace’.
The campaign planned to target those instant message accounts which can spread information in large scale and mobilise followers, Xinhua reported.
Seven instant messaging services companies like WeChat, Momo, Mi Talk and Yixin, had conceded to work with government and start internal scrutiny of the accounts.
WeChat had also announced that it will start clean up its platform from 9th June through new technique to comply with the regulations.
