A group of WeChat users in the U.S. is suing Tencent for allegedly violating privacy rights by spying on and censoring the content of communications, and seeking a court order allowing them to use the App without political censorship and surveillance. Tencent did not comment on the report.
According to Bloomberg, the lawsuit was filed by Citizen Power Initiatives for China (CPIFC), a group that promotes China’s transition to democracy, and six anonymous WeChat users, who filed a complaint in California court alleging that their statements on WeChat that could be considered critical of the Chinese Communist Party led to the freezing of their accounts, the freezing of their accounts, and the freezing of the accounts of their friends, family and business clients in mainland China. Their accounts were frozen, and their friends and family in mainland China and business clients in the United States were unable to access their accounts. Many WeChat users, even though they are in California, may appear to be self-censoring for fear of retaliation from the Chinese Communist Party.
According to the complaint filed in state court last Friday, one of the plaintiffs, a Chinese massage therapist, lost about $500 a day when his WeChat account was frozen for 42 days after he commented on the CCP’s pneumonia outbreak last year, resulting in a loss of communication with clients.
CPIFC said, “He will now use WeChat with deep fear, realizing that a casual comment could lead to a repeat of the incident.” California WeChat users want to file a lawsuit in the form of a class action and seek a court order to allow them to use the app without political censorship and surveillance.
WeChat is also critical for Chinese speakers in California who need to communicate with family and friends in China, and for those who need to do business within Chinese-speaking communities, according to the complaint.
A number of Chinese overseas have also been blocked from WeChat for expressing their views on current affairs in China. Because WeChat monitors, restricts, and suppresses the speech of overseas Chinese, some overseas Chinese have long tried to sue Tencent.
In February 2020, there were Chinese Americans planning to sue Tencent en masse. At that time, a knowledgeable person revealed that among the Chinese in the United States, some Chinese who supported Trump also had their micro-signals and WeChat groups inexplicably blocked and blocked by WeChat. Most of those involved in supporting Trump are Chinese elites, showing the power of Chinese in participating in American politics, and they said it was a blatant interference by WeChat in the freedom of speech of Americans, and could even be said to interfere with the U.S. presidential election.
With more than a billion users worldwide, the WeChat app is one of the most used apps in the daily lives of Chinese people, who use it to chat with friends, order food, exchange currency, and even pay bills.
In a report released in early May of last year, the Citizen Lab, a security research group at the University of Toronto, showed how WeChat closely monitors the activities of users outside of mainland China.
“The Citizen Lab study found that censorship is triggered when files and images sent between WeChat users registered outside of China are sent to users inside China.
On May 30 last year, the Chinese American Rights Defense League committee issued an open letter calling on individuals or groups that have been enveloped or blocked by WeChat to join a class action lawsuit against Tencent.
The coalition committee said that Tencent has transposed mainland China’s laws to the United States to implement them, applied mainland China’s regulations to control WeChat personal accounts and WeChat groups registered in the United States, snooped and monitored the posts, articles, pictures and videos of people in the United States, and censored and closed one-way, blocked numbers and groups on the grounds of sensitive content and violations, resulting in the paralysis of WeChat groups related to U.S. politics. Tencent’s actions interfere with and undermine the normal freedom of expression of Chinese in the United States and interfere with and undermine Chinese American politics. “Its actions are a serious violation of U.S. law and a serious infringement of citizens’ freedom of speech and their legitimate rights and interests under the U.S. Constitution.”
The coalition committee brought to the attention of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that Tencent’s shares are traded in the U.S. market through American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) (code TCEHY) and that the U.S. Securities Commission (U.S. Security& Exchange Commission) should investigate whether WeChat violated the constraints of U.S. SEC regulators and the terms of the regulatory The U.S. Security & Exchange Commission should investigate whether WeChat violated the SEC’s regulatory authority and governing provisions.
The U.S. Chinese Rights Defense League Committee calls on individuals and organizations that have been blocked by Tencent to join the League’s class action lawsuit against Tencent and file claims against Tencent.
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