A Chinese Internet firm has been ordered to pay compensation to the parents of a university student who killed himself in a suicide pact arranged online via instant messaging, state press said today.

The Internet firm Tencent was ordered by a court in east China's Zhejiang province to pay 55,600 yuan (USD 8,350) for failing to block messages that led to the suicide of the student, the Global Times said.

Before his death, the student identified only as Fan, 20, had responded to an invitation to commit suicide circulated by another man surnamed Zhang through the popular messaging service QQ, run by Tencent, the report said.

Fan, a student in Shanghai, went to neighbouring Zhejiang to meet Zhang, 22, and the two burned charcoal in a sealed-up hotel room in June in an attempt to kill themselves by inhaling carbon monoxide, according to earlier reports.

Zhang, however, backed out of the suicide attempt, leaving the room, while Fan died.

Fan's parents began civil court proceedings in October to sue Tencent and Zhang for 270,000 yuan in compensation.

The court ruled that Zhang should pay the parents about 111,000 yuan in damages for his involvement in the suicide, the Global Times said.

Tencent said it would appeal the verdict because Internet service providers have no right to monitor user messages, the paper said.

According to regulations issued by China's parliament, Internet service providers should take measures to stop the transmission of harmful online information, it added.