China prosecutors initiated a civil public-interest lawsuit against Tencent’s popular social messaging app WeChat’s ‘youth mode’ in its latest crackdown on leading technology companies.

Tencent’s WeChat team said in a post on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform, that it “will earnestly inspect and check the functions of WeChat Youth Mode, accept user suggestions humbly and sincerely respond to civil public interest litigation.’’

Prosecutors had said the “youth mode” on WeChat does not comply with laws protecting minors. The document did not say how WeChat’s “youth mode” broke Chinese law but said it could support other agencies and organisations that intended to bring lawsuits against the Tencent unit and asked them to contact the prosecutor’s office within 30 days.

Tencent, said it would review whether it adequately limits children's access to live streaming and other features after the government expanded a regulatory crackdown on tech industries by initiating a lawsuit against the company for failing to do enough to protect young users.

The online gaming industry was shaken this week when an official newspaper criticized their offerings as spiritual opium and cited examples of students playing Tencent's wildly popular Honor of Kings game for hours.

The lawsuit filed by Beijing prosecutors against a Tencent subsidiary complains the company infringes the legitimate rights and interests of minors but didn't explain how. In the notice, prosecutors said that other agencies and organizations which intend to bring lawsuits against the subsidiary should contact prosecutors within 30 days.

Tencent is best known abroad as the operator of the popular WeChat messaging system. It is one of the world's 10 most valuable tech companies, with a stock market capitalization of about $560 billion.

In a statement on its social media account, the WeChat team promised to conduct self-examination of the functions of WeChat Youth Mode and sincerely respond to the civil public interest litigation.

We attach great importance to the healthy growth of young people, and WeChat will actively assume the social responsibility of protecting and guiding young people, the statement said. Regulators say they are taking action to protect consumers, market competition and smaller companies.