A member of Australian parliament accuses the Chinese government of foreign interference after Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s WeChat account was hijacked.
“In an election year, this kind of interference in our political processes is unacceptable, and this matter must be taken extremely seriously by all Australian politicians,” said MP Gladys Liu.
WeChat is a Chinese mobile application and service portal. It is used in this country, but also by communities of Chinese origin living in other countries. This digital tool is therefore a very strong communication challenge for politicians.
WeChat becomes a subject of political communication
On the one hand, it has become for the Chinese authorities a very effective means of propaganda aimed at Chinese living abroad.
On the other hand, for the politicians of these countries, such as Australia, it is becoming essential to communicate to the Chinese via this communication channel regulated by Beijing.
Faced with the blocking of Scott Morrison’s account, some members of his party, the Liberal Party, announced a boycott of the platform. But it is not sure that it is very effective in this context. They also demand that the leader of the opposition, Anthony Albanes, do the same. They accuse the Chinese authorities of favoring this politician, by letting him express himself on WeChat.
Stuart Robert, the minister responsible for digital transformation, indicated Monday morning to the TodayShow that the Prime Minister’s Office is seeking to contact the Chinese government regarding the account hijacking. “It’s strange, and of course the Prime Minister’s office is trying to get in touch with them to find a solution,” he said.
An account now inaccessible
Scott Morrison’s WeChat account has reportedly been renamed. The Prime Minister reportedly had problems accessing his account several months ago, which ended in a complete inability to access it now.
According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the Prime Minister’s account is registered in the name of a Chinese national, as WeChat’s usage policies at the time required accounts to be linked to the identity of a Chinese national or a company registered in China.
In China, WeChat has faced increasing regulation. In particular, it was put on notice last year because it was accused of collecting more data on its users than is deemed necessary to operate the platform.
Last year, Tencent, the company that runs WeChat, also implemented new restrictions on the number of minors allowed to play its flagship game, Honor of Kings, as part of its efforts to allay the concerns of the Chinese government on this point. As part of this restriction, players of Honor of Kings under the age of 18 are limited to one hour of play on ordinary days and two hours on public holidays.
Source: ZDNet.com