WeChat Application That Monitors Its Users Outside Of China

Image Credit: Music Ally

JAKARTA - A recent study revealed that the instant messaging app WeChat monitors its users outside of China. This policy is known along with the number of WeChat application users in the Bamboo Curtain country.

According to a CNBC International report, based on research from the Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto, the WeChat application can monitor user activity through messages shared. Even though WeChat has followed strict censorship rules regarding the privacy policy on its platform.

This was discovered by Citizen Lab when conducting a trial by entering a number of content in the WeChat sensor algorithm, to find out which database was used. For example, WeChat will censor politically sensitive images that are not registered in China.

However, it is different, if WeChat users are outside of China, the images will not be censored. This is related to China's state policy in carrying out information monitoring functions, especially if the shared content offends the country.

A report emerged that WeChat is highly subject to content control covering information not found in public documents, and data access. Usually this company will remove or block content that tends to offend the country.

Even so, Citizen Lab revealed that there was no evidence of WeChat's surveillance of international users directed by the Chinese government. Representatives from the WeChat company also said that user privacy and data security are the main focus of the application.

"With regard to the suggestion that we engage in monitoring of international user content, we can confirm that all content shared among international users of WeChat is private," said a Tencent spokesperson, Monday, May 11.

"As a publicly listed global company, we adhere to the highest standards, and our policies and procedures comply with all laws and regulations in every country in which we operate."

For information, WeChat is owned by the Chinese internet giant, Tencent. It is the most popular social media platform in China, and is also widely used with 1 billion users worldwide.

It is known that the United States (US) is also becoming increasingly concerned about the flow of data from applications and services owned by the Chinese company. Last year, Washington launched a national security review into its 2017 acquisition of the social media app TikTok for Musica.ly. TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance.

Because similar accusations were also experienced by the short video application. So to build user trust, the company behind the app opened the TikTok Transparency Center, a location where moderators can be observed by outside experts.