The removing of the account was first confirmed Monday by James Paterson, chairman of Australia’s Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. He stated in interviews with Australian media that Morrison’s account on the platform had been “taken over and rebranded.”
“His account’s been hacked,” Paterson informed the radio community 4BC on Monday, including that Morrison’s account on the platform now redirects to at least one referred to as “Australian Chinese New Life.” Paterson and Morrison are each members of the Liberal Party.
Morrison had 76,000 followers on his WeChat account, which he used to speak with Chinese Australians.
“The account in question was originally registered by a [Chinese] individual and was subsequently transferred to its current operator, a technology services company — and will be handled in accordance with our platform rules,” a media consultant for Tencent informed CNN Business. “Tencent is committed to upholding the integrity of our platform and the security of all users accounts, and we will continue to look into this matter further.”
During one other interview with Sky News Australia, Paterson stated the federal government began having problem posting to Morrison’s account in mid-2021.
“The government has directly appealed to WeChat to ask them to restore access,” he stated, including that “no response has been given to the government.”
Paterson advised that the removing of Morrison’s account may very well be related to tensions between China and Australia. He speculated throughout one native interview on Monday that the timing might have been associated to the prime minister’s discussions with world leaders finally yr’s G7 summit “about the dangers of becoming overexposed to China and having leverage of China over you.”
Asked in regards to the account throughout a daily press convention in Beijing on Monday, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry of Affairs referred to as it an “issue between Morrison and WeChat,” and declined to remark additional.
At that point, Tencent emphasised that the worldwide model of WeChat is separate from the Chinese app, which is also called Weixin, and its web site stated that Tencent makes use of knowledge “in strict accordance with applicable laws and regulations.”
