Investors seeking stock insights should consult Golden麒麟 analyst reports for authoritative, professional, timely, and comprehensive analysis to uncover potential thematic opportunities! Direct clicking is no longer an option; users must now copy a passcode. On February 4th, WeChat announced that the Spring Festival red packet campaign of the YuanBao App violated platform rules due to "inducing sharing and harassing users," leading to restrictions on its related links. On one side is the heavily promoted new AI application "YuanBao," and on the other is the national App "WeChat" maintaining order, making the internal dispute between Tencent's own products a headline story.

A firsthand experience revealed that after WeChat's intervention, YuanBao switched to a method requiring users to copy a passcode for sharing to WeChat. In fact, this red packet marketing campaign was questioned for "double standards" from its launch, as its core mechanic heavily relies on social fission: users gain an additional lottery chance for every person they successfully invite to claim a red packet. At a recent employee conference, Tencent's Chairman and CEO Ma Huateng expressed hope that this campaign would "recreate the WeChat red packet moment from 11 years ago." Now, with WeChat elongating the original sharing process under the pretext of maintaining its ecosystem, YuanBao faces significant challenges in recapturing that past glory.

The three-day狂欢 came to an abrupt halt. On February 4th, WeChat issued a statement indicating it had received user feedback and complaints regarding YuanBao, noting that its related Spring Festival marketing activities involved inducing users to frequently share links to group chats and other scenarios through methods like "completing tasks" and "claiming red packets," thereby disrupting platform ecological order, affecting user experience, and causing harassment. After assessment, WeChat took action against YuanBao's违规 links, restricting their direct opening within WeChat, with the measures effective immediately.

YuanBao's "Split 1 Billion Yuan in Cash" Spring Festival activity launched on February 1st, allowing users to gain a lottery chance by completing specified tasks or inviting users via WeChat/QQ to claim red packets. On February 4th, precisely because of this sharing method, YuanBao was "blocked" by WeChat. That day also coincided with the first prize-claiming period for YuanBao's Spring Festival event.

WeChat's reasoning was clear: enticing users to share and disseminate external links through利益诱惑 constitutes违规 inducement to share. According to the WeChat External Link Content Management规范, Tencent reserves the right to handle external links involved in such违规 scenarios, with measures including, but not limited to, restricting the direct opening of related links within WeChat.

External speculation produced multiple interpretations. Wang Chao, founder of Wenyuan Think Tank, believes this reflects three signals: "Tencent's own anxiety about AI, WeChat's protective stance over its own ecosystem, and the internal tug-of-war between various forces within Tencent."

In fact, even before the Spring Festival campaign, WeChat and YuanBao had several collaborations. A year ago, during grayscale testing of AI search in WeChat Search, many users saw prompts to "Download YuanBao" on the page. In September 2025, users could trigger interactions with YuanBao by typing "@YuanBao + [your question]" in the comment sections of the latest versions of WeChat Official Accounts and Channels.

The "Split 1 Billion Yuan in Cash" campaign represents YuanBao's first large-scale promotional activity, but it is not the first time WeChat has taken action against a sibling product. In 2021, WeChat publicized a batch of违规 third-party引流 links, imposing access restrictions on违规 external links from products like QQ Music, QQ Browser, Duoduo Live, Zhihu, Haokan Video, and Xiaohongshu.

On the same day YuanBao's links were restricted, WeChat's PR Director posted on his personal微博: "User experience comes first, treating everyone equally," accompanied by a picture caption "When I go crazy, I even hit myself." In the comments under WeChat's announcement, some users tagged YuanBao, stating, "We fully understand and respect the platform rules and have immediately optimized the activity design to ensure a compliant experience."

Further体验 revealed that the original YuanBao red packet sharing page, which showed options to share to WeChat friends or QQ friends, has now changed to copying a passcode or sharing to QQ friends. YuanBao users need to copy the passcode and paste it into WeChat; WeChat users cannot directly click to jump to YuanBao to claim red packets and must instead copy the passcode to open YuanBao.

In Wang Chao's view, "Tencent has a fervent desire for AI. Under pressure from competitors like千问 and豆包, it must produce something new. In this context, WeChat allowed YuanBao to initially engage in user-harassing marketing—要知道微信 has always been very restrained. Since its own Spring Festival red packet event, WeChat hasn't large-scale promoted other Tencent businesses; this time, Tencent is using its most reserved resources to divert traffic to YuanBao. But YuanBao is not yet a mature product."

Inquiries regarding user participation scale in the first phase of YuanBao's活动 to relevant Tencent personnel went unanswered by the time of publication. According to Qimai Data, on February 4th, YuanBao ranked first on the Apple App Store's Free Chart (Overall), Free App Chart, and Free Productivity Chart.

The window of opportunity waits for no one. "Compared to essential applications like WeChat for payments and instant messaging, YuanBao remains a value-added service and may not form a strong binding relationship with users. Currently, AI is not a necessity for most users, and YuanBao hasn't yet developed a unique advantage in algorithms or functionality," Wang Qinglin, Manager at Rui Da Heng Research Institute, told the reporter.

Moreover, WeChat only granted YuanBao a three-day window. Wang Chao believes this fundamentally exposes organizational challenges within Tencent's AI strategy. "Ma Huateng hopes to recreate the glory of the WeChat red packet, but back then, WeChat was promoting its own payment service. Now, YuanBao, as an independent App, is 'borrowing' traffic from WeChat."

He pointed out, "Tencent's organizational structure is relatively stable, with each subsystem and subsidiary having a degree of independence. This structure has pros and cons: the advantage is that various business lines can operate freely, fostering continuous innovation. The disadvantage is that when a unified effort is needed for AI investment, internal conflicts arise."

Adjustments to the organizational structure have already begun. In mid-December 2025, Tencent newly established the AI Infra Department, AI Data Department, and Data Computing Platform Department, appointing former OpenAI senior researcher Yao Shunyu as Chief AI Scientist of the CEO/President's Office, concurrently serving as head of the AI Infra Department and the Large Language Model Department.

Ma Huateng stated that Tencent would consider large models and AI products in an integrated manner, adopting a logic of交叉, secondment, and Co-design for future product and organizational design.

Whether this series of adjustments and synergies can quickly translate into a leap in product experience remains to be seen. However, the AI battle has entered a critical phase, and user habits and the ecological landscape may solidify during the Spring Festival period.