Chinese tech giant Tencent, the owner of social media platform WeChat, has finally broken its silence amid Coalition members' calls for boycotting the social media platform following an alleged breach in Prime Minister Scott Morrison's account.
Earlier this month, the Prime Minister's WeChat account was allegedly taken over and rebranded as “Australian Chinese new life.” As a result, Coalition members have urged Australians to reconsider using the social media platform.
Commenting on the issue, Chinese-Australian Liberal MP Gladys Liu said she will stop using her official or personal WeChat accounts to communicate until the platform explains its side.
“In an election year especially, this sort of interference in our political processes is unacceptable, and this matter should be taken extremely seriously by all Australian politicians,” Liu added, as reported by Transcontinental.
Tencent argued that it did not find “evidence of any hacking or third-party intrusion” in the Prime Minister's account and argued that the issue appears to be a dispute over account ownership.
“The account in question was originally registered by a PRC individual and was subsequently transferred to its current operator, a technology services company – and it will be handled in accordance with our platform rules,” Tencent said in a statement, as reported by Transcontinental.
Tencent offered assurances that it will continue investigating the issue and remain committed to upholding the security of WeChat accounts.
Meanwhile, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has asked Tencent to restore access to Prime Minister Morrison's WeChat account.
“It's something we would like to see rectified because it's a method of communication to the Australian Chinese community, which is very important,” he said. “It should be on offer to politicians of all political persuasions; it shouldn't be a political football. It's very, very disappointing to see the prime minister prevented from having that access.”
The WeChat incident is not the first cyber issue to arise during the COVID-19 pandemic – and definitely not the last as experts expect the cyber risk landscape to expand in 2022, with Beazley head of cyber services Raf Sanchez predicting a rise in cyberattack-related directors and officers claims and cyber event-related third-party litigation.
Australian Labour Party leader Anthony Albanese said he will request a meeting with Prime Minister Morrison to discuss national security issues.
“I'll be seeing (Prime Minister Morrison) this week because of the Australia Day commemorations in Canberra, and I'll have a chat with him directly,” he told Brisbane radio station 4BC. “National security should always be treated seriously, which is why I'm more than happy to have a discussion with either our (security) agencies or prime minister.”
