On the anniversary of one of history’s most famous and deadly protests, users of the Chinese internet service WeChat were unable to transfer money in amounts with numbers linked to the event.
According to Bloomberg News, on June 4, the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protest, users in Beijing could not transfer money values containing “64” or “89.” Both numbers are said to reference the date and year of the protest. Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat app could not process transactions of 89 yuan and 6.4 yuan.
When users attempted to make the transfers, they received a “red envelope” with the message, “Transaction error. Try again later.” Transfers not containing the numbers went through as normal, Bloomberg reported.
When government forces attacked pro-democracy protestors in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 4, 1989, the clash left hundreds or even thousands of Chinese citizens dead. It is often referred to as 6/4.
In addition to cracking down on Macau’s casino industry, the Mainland Chinese government under President Xi Jinping has increased its control over the internet. Earlier this month, China’s online regulator, Lu Wei, reminded members of the public that they need to become “good netizens.”
