California WeChat users sue Tencent over fear of Chinese censors

  • Some WeChat users say that their accounts have been frozen after making comments that can be perceived as critical of the Chinese government
  • This has caused them to be cut of from friends and relatives in China as well as their business clients in the US, according to the complaint

WeChat is the most used social media app among Chinese-speaking people in part because China blocks other apps, such as Facebook and Twitter. Photo: Shutterstock
A group of California WeChat users sued Tencent Holdings, the Chinese owner of the messaging and payment app, for allegedly violating their right to privacy by surveilling and censoring their communications.

Citizen Power Initiatives for China, a group promoting transition to Democracy in China, and six anonymous WeChat users said comments made using WeChat that can be perceived as critical of the Chinese government have led to the users’ accounts being frozen, causing them to be cut of from friends and relatives in China as well as their business clients in the US.

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