(Yicai Global) Feb. 13 -- WeChat will bar multiple network platforms from inducing users to share their activities to WeChat Moments using red packets and other means over China's Spring Festival, it said on its official account yesterday.

Tech titan Tencent Holdings Ltd. runs WeChat, China's most popular messaging app. Its key social function, Moments, is like Facebook's News Feed. Platforms WeChat flagged include info-streaming platform Toutiao, e-commerce platform JD.com, takeout platform Ele.me, and even sports.qq.com, also under Tencent.

WeChat has set limits on the dissemination of red packets, memberships, coupons and the like by these platforms in WeChat Moments, and will take strict action if any seeks to evade these curbs, WeChat warned. These acts greatly affect the user experience of the Moments and Group Chat functions, it said, adding it hopes the platforms will abide by its rules and preserve the app's ecology.

Debuted in 2011, WeChat now has over 900 million active users. Aside from its social functions, it is also the second-largest third-party payment platform after AliPay under Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.