Tencent, the parent company of WeChat, has reported a dispute over the rightful owner of the account. The account is now managed by Fuzhou 985 Technology and has been renamed Australia China New Life. 76,000 followers have been notified that the account will promote Chinese life in Australia.
An employee told Reuters news agency that Fuzhou 985 Technology had acquired the account from a person in China. That employee also said he didn’t know Morrison was using the account. The company wanted to buy an account with many followers from the Chinese community in Australia.
‘Foreign interference in our democracy’
“What the Chinese government has done by closing the prime minister’s account is actually foreign interference in our democracy,” said Senator James Patterson, of Morrison’s party. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said this is an issue between WeChat and Australian politicians.
WeChat is a messaging service and social network. The app, which is regularly monitored by Chinese authorities, is very popular in China and elsewhere in the world with people of Chinese descent. Morrison created his account in 2019 to facilitate communication with the Chinese community in Australia. The last message was published in July of last year. Morrison will no longer be able to access his account.
