China’s State-Run Firms Limit Use of Tencent’s Messaging App

SINGAPORE—Some Chinese state-run companies are restricting employees’ use of Tencent Holdings Ltd. ’s popular domestic messaging app, citing security concerns, according to people familiar with the matter.

This week, managers at at least nine state-run companies, including some of the nation’s largest, such as China Mobile Ltd. , China Construction Bank Corp. and China National Petroleum Corp., told employees that any chat groups set up for work purposes on Weixin—Tencent’s dominant messaging app in China—could contain sensitive information and should be shut down and deleted, the people said.