FOR many Chinese Australians, WeChat serves as their lifeline to communicate with their loved ones back home.
What pushed Australia to propose a ban on an essential tool that is driving business growth in China and supporting many Chinese Australians worldwide?
In a report submitted by the Australian Senate Committee, lawmakers have proposed extending the federal government ban from the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok to the Chinese messaging app WeChat.
The recent report submitted by the panel of lawmakers labeled TikTok and WeChat, with its parent companies headquartered in China, as Australia’s biggest national threat.
To recall, the Australian government banned TikTok from federal government devices in April over fears the security of the app was compromised.
Meanwhile, Australia and New Zealand General Manager Lee Hunter previously said that TikTok was not informed of the ban before it was leaked to the media, adding that the company was “extremely disappointed” by the decision which was driven by politics, and not fact.
The committee claimed the Chinese government can easily require these companies to secretly cooperate with intelligence agencies in line with China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law.
The committee also heard that TikTok’s China-based employees have access to Australian user data although the company assured approval for the data went through its US-based employees.
Moreover, the panel of lawmakers suggested that social media platforms should abide by Australia’s set of transparency rules while failure to meet the minimum standards will result in fines or a total ban as a last resort.
Australia was the last country from the so-called five eyes intelligence-sharing partners which include the United States, Canada, Britain, and New Zealand to have banned TikTok.
The proposed ban on WeChat is the latest move from Canberra to crack down on potential influence linked to Beijing amid a deepening tech war between China and the US.
