WeChat Derailing Democracy, Must Be Regulated in Democratic Nations: Expert

All fears concerning TikTok apply to WeChat

WeChat app on a smartphone in a photo illustration taken on July 13, 2021. Dado Ruvic/Reuters

An expert has warned that countries around the world should regulate WeChat because it is actively seeking to undermine political systems and civil societies.

WeChat, which is alternatively known as Weixin, is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by the Chinese company Tencent.

Seth Kaplan, Ph.D., a professorial lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, who advises organizations such as the World Bank, United Nations, U.S. State Department, and the OECD, told an Australian parliamentary inquiry into foreign interference from social media that he believed WeChat was more of a risk than TikTok.

“Everything that we fear about what TikTok may become already is occurring on WeChat,” Kaplan said. 

“Narratives are managed, information in there is managed, dissenting views are demoted or eliminated, and it’s basically a narrative machine for the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] and what it wants to promote similar to what actually happens in China.”

He warned that where WeChat exists, it is monitoring, surveilling, and developing a strong influence on the Chinese diaspora community, making it vulnerable to false narratives and manipulation. 

“This has a strong influence on all Chinese language media in your country. Because any newspaper or any website or anyone who wants to advertise [will go onto WeChat] to reach the great majority of people because WeChat is so ubiquitous,” he said. 

“They have to advertise. They have to hope that their information and their news goes viral on WeChat and, therefore, because WeChat has managed information, manage narratives, it affects newspapers, it affects everything that’s not on WeChat that involves news and information.“

WeChat’s management of this information space has significant ramifications for the Chinese language public square as anyone who depends on Mandarin is now vulnerable without “free access to diverse views and diverse opinions.”

“They are basically in this manage information bubble. They are vulnerable, and I think it has great implications for anyone starting a civil society organization appealing to these groups,” Kaplan said.

China Uses WeChat to Interfere Politically

What worried Kaplan the most was his observations that the Chinese Communist Party is using the social media app to directly interfere in societies politically.

He cited a case from Toronto, Canada, where a political information campaign on WeChat saw a significant shift in the votes for a candidate in a district where there was a heavy Chinese migrant presence because the candidate was taking an anti-CCP position. 

He had also seen it happen at the state and local level, which he said may be more vulnerable than the federal level.

“For the bills, for example, that are currently being debated on land sales, or technology, WeChat is managing information, helping to mobilize Chinese speakers and then basically seeking coalition partners among the non-Chinese language speaking a civil society, and all of this basically is direct interference in the politics of the country.

“Instead of your democracy being a debate among people who live in the country, there’s an additional voice that plays a large part in the conversation. And that voice is controlled by a foreign government that does not have your best interests at heart.”

He noted that Tencent, the company that owns WeChat has implemented an extensive censorship policy, which deplatforms and blocks anyone who does not voice the CCP narrative.

“If you have a voice that goes against the dominant narrative, you are being kicked off or not allowed to post content, even Chinese American politicians,” he said. 

“They’re not able to use this platform to promote their views if their views are against the CCP. So this censorship is much it’s very widespread, and it has great implications for anyone operating in that language.”

WeChat Manipulation Already At Work in Australia and the US

Kaplan’s comments come after former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison lost control of his WeChat account prior to the 2022 election.

Morrison was outspoken about his concerns over the Chinese communist regime and instigate the call for an international inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, James Paterson, the company did not respond to requests from the government for it to be returned.

Meanwhile, in the United States, WeChat has been accused of deplatforming political commentators who have alternative views to the CCP on domestic U.S. issues.

Lydia Liu, the manager of MoshangUS Telegram group on WeChat who has 250,000 followers and millions of views per month, has accused the company of extending its control to America after WeChat repeatedly took down her posts that contradicted the stance of the CCP on the U.S.-China trade war or the COVID-19 pandemic.

“WeChat is a Chinese-speaking American exclusion App. It should be fined and regulated in the United States. WeChat needs to pay Chinese Americans reparations for vicious community #invasion and mentally enslaving us for interests of China, which holds strong adverse views on the U.S.,” Liu said in a Twitter post in October 2022.

In Liu’s recent interview with The Epoch Times, she said: “The Chinese have to act to stop the long arm of the Chinese Communist Party.”

She described what she posted in the group.

“I didn’t even touch upon China’s affairs, I’m only concerned about things unfolding in the United States, and I was very careful to avoid WeChat censorship and not to touch the red line of the CCP. The CCP has stretched its hands too long,” she said.

WeChat Argues It Is Safe

However, WeChat, in a submission to the inquiry (pdf), has said that it provides a safe and secure user experience.

“WeChat’s policy is to ensure that content and behaviour on its application is authentic and to remove false news, disinformation, misinformation, false advertising, and any other content that may be otherwise unsafe or objectionable (such as violent, criminal, illegal or inappropriate content). It does this by setting and enforcing acceptable use standards,” the company stated.

Additionally, they claim that their Acceptable Use Policy “specifically and expressly” forbids promotional political content where a person or entity has paid for such content or the relevant promotional political content does not comply with any applicable laws or regulations.

WeChat Needs Stepped Regulation Process

Kaplan recommended that Australia look to institute a step-by-step approach, to address the issues around WeChat as a way to guide the company as to how it needs to operate in Australia. 

“The penalties could be significant fines,” he said.

“And then if these rules were not followed, let’s say there were three significant opportunities for them to follow the rules, and these things were strongly monitored, and they weren’t followed. Then we would have no choice but to ban the app.”