PATREONItems tagged with WeChat
It looks as though the Trump administration is going nuclear on TikTok, and WeChat has been dragged into the mix as well. The U.S. Commerce Department has issued an order that goes into effect September 20th that will effectively ban anyone in the United States from downloading either app. The order [PDF], which was issued this morning, states, “Pursuant to Executive Order 13942, any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd. (a.k.a. Zìjié Tiàodòng), Beijing, China, or its subsidiaries, including TikTok Inc., in which any such company has any interest, as identified...
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Sales of Apple's popular iPhone handsets could potentially fall off a cliff in the near future, plummeting by as much as 30 percent if US President Trump's executive order banning WeChat stands, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated in a research note. While maybe not disastrous, such a precipitous drop in iPhone sales would certainly hit Apple hard. Trump signed the executive order last week, noting that WeChat has over 1 billion users and is owned by Tencent, a Chinese company. "Like TikTok, WeChat automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information. In addition,...
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WeChat users in China will have to keep stories of one-night stands to themselves. That's because China's Internet regulator, Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), has posted new guidelines that prohibit sexual and otherwise vulgar content the popular messaging application owned by Tencent Holdings. Also out are stories of "wife-swapping, sexual abuse, and other harmful information." The same goes for explicit pictures and text, such as nude photos and erotic anime, all of which are now banned on WeChat. Users who ignore the ban will be subject to a one-week suspension the first time they're caught. After four slaps on the wrist, accounts that continue to run afoul of the rules will be banned...
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A man in China has been arrested for writing on WeChat that three people carrying explosives were shot and killed by police outside a hospital in the eastern province of Jiangsu. Chinese authorities detained the individual just hours after government officials issued new rules on instant messaging tools, one of which bans spreading panic. This is the first time someone has been arrested in China for such a thing. According to Reuters, this is part of a broader state initiative to squash the spread of rumors and obscene material online, and also to censor political commentary. In this instance, Chinese media reports that the man's claim had been investigated by police and found to be untrue. It...
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