Citizen Power, a U.S. nonprofit organization, has filed a class action lawsuit in California Superior Court against Chinese tech giant Tencent’s WeChat for speech surveillance.
“In a release, Citizen Power noted that the lawsuit was prompted by anger throughout the Chinese-speaking world over WeChat’s censorship and surveillance, and its role in fueling the outbreak of the Wuhan Coronavirus, a Chinese Communist virus. Many U.S. WeChat users are unhappy that they are unable to communicate through WeChat without censorship and monitoring, a situation that is true even in the United States.
“In a statement, Citizen Power founder Yang said the lawsuit is part of the organization’s attempt to slow the erosion of democratic values around the world, which shows little sign of abating, and help turn the situation around by relying on the rule of law.
After nearly a year of investigation, Citizen Power has now decided that the first six California-based WeChat users will join Citizen Power as plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging that defendants Tencent USA, LLC and Tencent International Services, LLC’s Tencent’s censorship and surveillance practices and policies violate numerous aspects of California law. The notice states that WeChat is the leading social media and payment application in the Chinese-speaking world, and that these WeChat users have suffered significant economic, emotional and psychological harm as a result of WeChat’s surveillance. The lawsuit asks the court to declare that WeChat’s surveillance practices and policies are unlawful and issue an injunction against it, and order the defendants to pay damages for the harm caused.
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