WeChat tells Australian lawmakers China has never asked to spy on users, access private messages

Representatives of WeChat told a panel that Beijing did not have access to its platform, which was based in Singapore and bound by the city state’s laws

WeChat also reiterated to the Australian inquiry into foreign interference that its guidelines and policies provide users with a safe online space

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Representatives of WeChat told an Australian inquiry into foreign interference that Beijing did not have access to its platform, and it never was asked to spy on its users. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 8:11pm, 27 Jul 2023Updated: 1:31am, 28 Jul 2023

An Australian parliamentary inquiry into foreign interference convened by China hawks has been told by WeChat that Beijing had never made requests to snoop on Australian users or have access to private chat messages.

The written response by the China-based superapp marks its first comment to the panel, after it declined to send a representative in person on account of not having permanent staff in Australia.

In a bullet-point reply issued on Wednesday to 53 questions posed by the inquest’s panel of lawmakers, the Tencent-owned platform also said Beijing could not monitor, moderate or censor any content or chats on WeChat as they were private, based in Singapore and bound by the city state’s laws.

“WeChat is a safe and secure platform, operated under Singapore laws, that enables private chat messages between users. Surveillance by any government would violate our stated policies,” WeChat said.

Australian Parliament House in Canberra. Representatives for Chinese superapp, WeChat told an Australian inquiry that Beijing never asked that it spy on users. Photo: Shutterstock

Throughout its written response, WeChat reiterated that it had guidelines and policies only to the extent of providing users with a safe online space and practised similar approaches to other apps in prohibiting things like bullying and hate speech.

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