Tencent denies storing WeChat records after Chinese billionaire reportedly questions monitoring

Tencent, operator of the popular WeChat messaging app, asks public to “rest assured” that it has neither the authority nor reason to look at users’ conversations

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Internet giant Tencent Holdings has denied that its popular WeChat app stores the conversation history of its users. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 4:08pm, 2 Jan 2018Updated: 10:06pm, 2 Jan 2018

Tencent Holdings, whose WeChat messaging app has more than 1 billion users worldwide, said it does not store any user chat histories, after Chinese automotive industry tycoon Li Shufu reportedly slammed the company for invading user privacy.

The contents of WeChat conversations are stored only on the user’s mobile phone, computer or other terminal devices, WeChat said in a post on its official account on Tuesday. The social media app also does not use any of the content for Big data analysis, it said.

As WeChat neither stores nor analyses users’ chat content, it is purely a misconception to say that “we are watching your WeChat every day”, according to the statement. “Please rest assured that privacy has always been one of Wechat’s most important principles. We have neither the authority nor reason to look at your WeChat.”

Tencent’s WeChat has gained prominence in everyday usage in China and extended its use from being a communication tool and mobile payment channel to being used as a digital alternative to the national identification card. A Beijing court has also recently started accepting filings by people using the platform.

WeChat, officially launched in 2011 and known as Weixin in mainland China, has evolved into the country’s largest social network with 980 million monthly active users in the quarter ended September 30, according to Shenzhen-based Tencent.

The statement came after Li Shufu, chairman of Chinese carmaker Geely, criticised Tencent for invading the users’ privacy on WeChat. Tencent chairman Pony Ma Huateng “is watching us through WeChat every day because he can see whatever he wants”, said Li during a public event on January 1, according to Sina.com.