UN-Tencent partnership raises questions of censorship and surveillance

Chinese tech sector has poor human rights reputation

At the start of April, the U.N. and Chinese technology business Tencent Holdings announced a partnership to host thousands of online conversations using Tencent's videoconferencing software, in part to ask what the world should look like in 25 years.

This sounds modern and optimistic, but the deal risks involving the U.N. in the controversial Chinese tech sector, where government intrusion through electronic surveillance is rife and censorship reigns.

These U.N. conversations are bound to touch on explosive topics -- freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the benefits and downsides of different forms of government. But on Tencent's social media app WeChat, rather than the VooV platform used for the U.N., these discussions might not be possible.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/UN-Tencent-partnership-raises-questions-of-censorship-and-surveillance

#un #censorship #surveillance #tencent #wechat

We Chat, They Watch

How International Users Unwittingly Build up WeChat’s Chinese Censorship Apparatus

Key Findings

📝 We present results from technical experiments which reveal that WeChat communications conducted entirely among non-China-registered accounts are subject to pervasive content surveillance that was previously thought to be exclusively reserved for China-registered accounts.
📝 Documents and images transmitted entirely among non-China-registered accounts undergo content surveillance wherein these files are analyzed for content that is politically sensitive in China.
📝 Upon analysis, files deemed politically sensitive are used to invisibly train and build up WeChat’s Chinese political censorship system.
📝 From public information, it is unclear how Tencent uses non-Chinese-registered users’ data to enable content blocking or which policy rationale permits the sharing of data used for blocking between international and China regions of WeChat.
📝 Tencent’s responses to data access requests failed to clarify how data from international users is used to enable political censorship of the platform in China.

https://citizenlab.ca/2020/05/we-chat-they-watch/

#asia #china #tencent #wechat

Tencent’s WeChat cuts off service in India amid the country’s ban on Chinese apps

Super app WeChat, the multipurpose messaging and social media platform run by internet giant Tencent Holdings, has ceased operations in India weeks after a previously announced ban, dealing a blow to the millions of Indian users who use the app for personal and business reasons.
Tencent and other Chinese app operators have had no option but to fall in line with India’s ban, at a time when they also find themselves under increasing pressure from the Trump administration in the US over privacy and censorship issues.
India on Monday banned 47 more Chinese apps after blocking 59 others over privacy and national security concerns, according to an information ministry official and media reports.

https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3094834/tencents-wechat-cuts-service-india-amid-countrys-ban-chinese-apps

#asia #india #tencent #wechat

Trump Says ‘Whatever’ And Isn’t Worried That Banning WeChat Will Kill iPhone Sales In China

With the impending ban on US companies doing business with the likes of WeChat, multiple American companies have expressed concerns about what it will mean for their business in China.

WeChat is a big deal there, not only offering chat services but also being how much of the country handles payments and other daily tasks. Apple, Disney, and others have concerns, but President Trump doesn’t care.

https://www.redmondpie.com/trump-says-whatever-and-isnt-worried-that-banning-wechat-will-kill-iphone-sales-in-china/

95% Of Chinese Users Say They Will Ditch Their iPhones If WeChat Is Banned

https://www.redmondpie.com/95-of-chinese-users-say-they-will-ditch-their-iphones-if-wechat-is-banned/

#US #Asia #China #Apple #iPhone #WeChat #Tencent

Taiwan to block streaming services of Tencent and Baidu's iQiyi

Crackdown is latest setback for Chinese internet companies seeking growth abroad

HONG KONG/TAIPEI -- Taiwan authorities are closing a regulatory loophole to block Tencent Holdings and Baidu from offering video streaming services on the self-governing island, the latest sign that rising geopolitical tensions are weighing on the global ambitions of Chinese internet giants.

Chinese players are already banned from offering video streaming in Taiwan, but Tencent and Baidu's popular iQiyi platform have managed to avoid those restrictions by partnering with local companies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs, however, announced on Tuesday night that it is tightening its regulations to prevent local businesses from distributing video content produced by mainland Chinese companies, effective Sept. 3.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Taiwan-to-block-streaming-services-of-Tencent-and-Baidu-s-iQiyi

#Asia #Taiwan #Tencent #Baidu

Tencent’s insurance platform WeSure slapped with fine for misleading marketing

Chinese regulators have slapped Tencent WeSure Insurance with a 120,000 yuan (US$17,293) fine for running a misleading marketing campaign, amid a surge in online health care coverage in the country because of the coronavirus pandemic.

WeSure, the online insurance subsidiary of internet giant Tencent Holdings, tried to boost demand for its insurance products by claiming that only a limited number would be available to consumers, according to a notice posted online by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission’s Shenzhen office on Monday.

https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3097808/tencents-insurance-platform-wesure-slapped-fine-misleading

#Asia #China #Tencent #WeSure

Six California WeChat users sue Tencent for alleged chat surveillance

A group of California WeChat users sued Tencent Holdings Ltd., 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 off from friends and relatives in China as well as their business clients in the U.S.

“All this chills constitutionally protected speech,” according to the complaint filed Friday in California state court in San Jose. “Indeed, many WeChat users have told CPIFC that they feel real fear that the Party-state or its agents will retaliate against them or their family, and that, as a result, they self-censor, despite the fact that they live in California.”

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-01-11/california-wechat-users-sue-tencent-for-alleged-surveillance

#US #California #China #tencent #wechat #surveillance #privacy

Tencent has been caught spying on your web browsing history with QQ Messenger

QQ Messenger, a popular Chinese instant messaging app by Tencent, was caught scraping web browser history with their desktop client. The discovery was made by Chinese internet users on the Q and A platforum Zhihu. Here is a Chinese language thread that documents the QQ Messenger web browsing history scraping investigation. Basically, all Chromium based web browsers store your internet history in an sqlite file in local storage. QQ Messenger would seek out this file and scrape the information, comparing it to a list of keywords and then phoning home if any matches were found.

After the spying revelation, Tencent quickly released a new version of QQ Messenger without the web history scraping functionality and claimed that the Chinese company was only previously looking at its millions of users’ web browsing history as a way of ”checking whether malicious programs were using certain websites to access QQ.”

This isn’t the first time Tencent has spied on users for the Chinese government

Since last year, QQ messenger has lost 6% of its active users – possibly because users have already started distrusting QQ and Tencent. Over the years, similar revelations about Tencent’s anti-privacy and weak security practices have come out especially in regards to QQ products. Back in 2016, the University of Toronto’s CitizenLab revealed that Tencent’s QQ Browser regularly sent personal information back to Tencent unencrypted. Furthermore, it became known that this overt lack of encryption was likely explicitly requested by “higher powers.”

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/tencent-has-been-caught-spying-on-your-web-browsing-history-with-qq-messenger/

#tencent #china #spying #browsing #history #qq #messenger #thinkabout #why
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📡@BlackBox_Archiv
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#Tencent is scanning kids' faces to stop them using older relatives' #gaming accounts to get around #China's gaming restrictions

https://www.businessinsider.com/tencent-scans-childrens-faces-to-limit-gaming-hours-2022-1