The account was renamed ‘Australia China New Life’ in January by its new Chinese owner, Fuzhou 985 Technology, based in Fujian province, which notified followers the account would instead promote Chinese life in Australia.Īn employee from Fuzhou 985 Technology, who only gave his surname as Huang, told Reuters by telephone was not aware the account was previously connected to Morrison.
The account, which bore Morrison’s photograph and posted information on his policies in Mandarin targeted at Australian voters of Chinese ethnic origin, had 76,000 followers. The politicians claimed the move represented censorship amid growing diplomatic tensions here between Canberra and Beijing with a national election to be held in Australia by May. In the 2020 incident, a note appeared from WeChat saying the content violated regulations, including distorting historical events and confusing the public.Australian politicians said Morrison's office lost access to the account on the platform, owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd, several months ago. In December 2020 the Scott Morrison WeChat account was temporarily blocked amid a political dispute between Canberra and Beijing over an image of an Australian soldier in Afghanistan. “Any account set up in this way can be shut down at a moment’s notice,” he said. “Yet they can still gain access to critiques of the government, attacks on the government by the (Labor) Opposition Leader,” he added.įergus Ryan, senior analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said having the Prime Minister’s WeChat account registered under the name of a Chinese citizen was “always risky and ill-advised”, and appeared to be a breach of WeChat rules. “There’s 1.2 million Australians of Chinese descent who overwhelmingly use this service and now can no longer access news and information from their Prime Minister,” he said on Australian radio on Monday.
Liberal Senator James Paterson, Chair of Parliament’s Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, told media the incident was an example of “censorship” and “foreign interference”.
#Pm morrison control wechat account looms registration
The account registration is now linked to a technology company in Fujian province, Reuters found. The Scott Morrison account was registered in 2019 using the name of a Chinese citizen in mainland China as its account operator, WeChat records show and a government source confirmed.įeaturing Morrison’s photograph, it originally promoted major announcements on the economy or the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, translated into Chinese.īut in January, the account was rebranded ‘Australia China New Life’, and said it would provide information such about life in Australia, Reuters confirmed by viewing the account. Tencent didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.īoth the Liberals and the main opposition Labor Party set up official WeChat accounts for their leaders through outsourced agencies. 10, said a person with knowledge of the matter, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The prime minister’s office has made multiple fruitless requests to WeChat to regain access to the account, most recently on Jan. With a national election due by May, the government would have aimed to use the Morrison account to promote its policies during the Chinese New Year celebrations starting Feb. SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Liberal Party lost access to his official WeChat social media account months ago, politicians said on Monday, issuing claims of censorship, while the still-active account being run by an unidentified controller now promotes Chinese life in Australia.Īmid growing diplomatic tensions with China, Australia’s two major political parties have used the social media platform, owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd, to communicate with Australian voters of Chinese ethnicity in tightly fought electorates since 2019.
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