Sydney: The Liberal Party of Prime Minister Scott Australia lost access to its last Wechat social media account, said politicians on Monday, issuing sensor claims, while accounts that are still actively carried out by an unknown controller now promoting Chinese life in Australia.
In the midst of increasing diplomatic tensions with China, two main political parties Australia has used the social media platform, which is owned by Giant Tech Tencent Holdings Ltd, to communicate with Australian voters from Chinese ethnicity in elections fighting strictly since May, the government will aim to use Morrison’s account to promote its policies during Chinese New Year celebrations starting 1.
February.
The Prime Minister’s office has made many requests without results to Wechat to regain access to accounts, said January 10 someone with knowledge of this issue, which refused to be named after the sensitivity of the problem.
Tencent did not immediately respond to requests for comments from Reuters.
Both liberals and the main opposition of the Labor Party established an official Wechat account for their leaders through outsourcing agents.
Scott Morrison account registered in 2019 using the name of Chinese citizens in mainland China as an account operator, Wechat Records Show and government sources confirmed.
Showing Morrison’s photo, initially promoting the main announcement of the economy or pandemic Covid-19, translated into Chinese.
But in January, the account was turned on ‘Australia China New Life’, and said it would provide information about life in Australia, Reuters was confirmed by looking at the account.
Account registration is now associated with technology companies in Fujian Province, Reuters found.
Liberal Senator James Paterson, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on intelligence and security, told the media incident it was an example of “sensors” and “foreign interference”.
“There are 1.2 million Australians of Chinese descent who are very use of this service and now can no longer access the news and information from their prime minister,” he said on Radio Australia on Monday.
“But they can still get access to government criticism, attack the government by opposition leaders (labor),” he added.
Fergus Ryan, a senior analyst with the Australian strategic policy Institute, said that the Wechat Prime Minister registered with the name of Chinese citizens is “always risky and not recommended”, and it seems to be a violation of Wechat rules.
“Every account regulated in this way can be closed on a momentary notification,” he said.
In December 2020 Scott Morrison WeChat account was temporarily in the midst of political disputes between Canberra and Beijing for the image of an Australian soldier in Afghanistan.
In the 2020 incident, a record emerged from WeChat, which said the content violated the rules, including distorting historical and public confusing events.