Keep this in mind when sending information to a WeChat group hosted by your friend in China. Content violation on Wechat can include information identified as rumour by Chinese authorities, messages mentioning politically sensitive topics, and information related to organising protests. In September 2017, China launched new regulations for online chat groups that make the group chat admin liable for the information shared by its group members. A recent study from the Citizen Lab suggests that messages containing censored keywords will still be banned if they are sent to a Chinese account.
However, when you use WeChat to communicate with a Chinese user, it’s a different story. WeChat accounts registered outside China as an “overseas account” are not censored according to the same strict standards that apply to Chinese users. The most common method of censorship on WeChat is keyword blocking, which means messages containing sensitive words, such as “Tiananmen June 4” and “free Tibet”, won’t be received. Once you register your account in China, your communication on WeChat is always censored – even if you connect your WeChat to an Australian number. However, Australian users should keep the following in mind: Tips for using WeChat in AustraliaĪccording to WeChat’s own claims, user data is not monitored or stored by the company, as long as there is no requirement from the Chinese authorities. But as long as the party state controls their right to operate in the Chinese market, they will continue to make profit at the cost of users’ freedom of speech. Arguably, tech companies are as much victims of the system as users. It is not unusual for internet companies to conduct censorship according to local law, but in a country like China the law can be used to persecute dissidents and activists. Lately, under pressure from Beijing, Apple removed 674 VPN applications – tools that can be used to circumvent censorship – from its Chinese app store. More recent reports suggest that private conversations on WeChat are sometimes monitored by the Chinese police.
One famous case was Yahoo’s complicity in Beijing’s persecution of two dissidents in the early 2000s. Beijing has a dark history of pressuring tech companies to assist with information surveillance.Ĭhina bans streaming video as it struggles to keep up with live content In Early December, the Indian government reportedly blacklisted WeChat, together with another 41 apps, categorising them as spyware.Īlthough there is no firm evidence to prove that these products have actually been used for government spying, such suspicions are not entirely groundless. Tech products from China, such as affordable smartphones, are regularly accused of having security flaws and even claimed to be tools for government spying. This will make Malaysia WeChat’s first offshore market whereby all of the platform services can be made available to local users.Ĭoncerns about censorship and surveillanceĪlthough the Chinese Communist Party urges its firms to expand into global markets, the party’s intimate relationship with China’s tech sector has made overseas consumers wary.
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In late November, WeChat obtained an e-payment license in Malaysia that will allow locals to use Malaysian banks to pay. However, the app’s latest venture in Malaysia suggests the company is now planning to target overseas domestic users. Exporting mobile payment to the worldĪt this stage, only customers with Chinese bank accounts can use WeChat to make payments, so the global push still largely relies on Chinese consumers.
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Most early overseas adopters of this service are duty free shops and Chinese restaurants, but in Australia it is also common to see the WeChat pay option available in pharmacies.ĭue to the high demand in China for Australian-made baby formula and health supplements, a visit to a pharmacy to stock up is often on a Chinese tourist’s “must do list” when visiting Australia. More than 10,000 shops and restaurants in Australia are using the WeChat Pay system. Chemist Warehouse’s online store in China (Screen Shot Decemat 9:30am)
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