Australian politicians including the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader risk being kicked off China's largest social media platform WeChat for using official accounts set up by Chinese citizens.
WeChat accounts registered in China are subject to censorship and are required to promote the Government and socialismThe ABC has identified a dozen Australian politicians — including the PM and Opposition Leader — using accounts registered to Chinese citizens
Prime Minister Scott Morrison's WeChat official account was registered in January under the name of an unknown Chinese citizen in Fujian province, while Mr Shorten's and the ALP's official account is registered to an unidentified Chinese man in Shandong province. Under WeChat rules"the initial registration applicant shall not donate, borrow, rent, transfer or sell the Weixin [WeChat] account, nor permit any non-initial registration applicant to use the Weixin account."Neither party would disclose which Chinese citizens owned these accounts.
Fergus Ryan, a cyber policy specialist at the Australian Strategic Policy Centre said our political leaders had some explaining to do.
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