Alibaba blocks WeChat service

Alibaba Group, China's largest e-commerce company, has suspended third party connections on its websites that are linked to competitor Tencent's popular instant messaging application, citing security concerns.

Third party service providers are not being allowed to display product information about Taobao vendors on the WeChat platform since Wednesday. Alibaba's Taobao is a top e-commerce site.

The move is to ensure vendors conduct marketing activities in a safe and legitimate manner. "Some Taobao vendors' marketing activities on WeChat have disturbed users," Alibaba said in a statement.

Some popular third party service providers serve up to 1,000 Taobao merchants.

Tencent Holdings said in a statement yesterday that it's WeChat team is not aware of the matter. WeChat's nearly 300 million registered users have attracted a number of e-commerce vendors.

"It's a signal that e-commerce service providers should pay more attention to Sina Weibo instead of WeChat's platform," said e-commerce consultant Gong Wenxiang, alluding to Alibaba's tie-up with the popular microblog Weibo.

In April, Alibaba purchased an 18 percent stake in Sina Weibo for $586 million.