Morrison's WeChat account hack: Should Australia ban Chinese apps?

3 min read | January 25, 2022 02:41 PM AEDT | By Manisha

Morrison's WeChat account hack: Should Australia ban Chinese apps? — Image source: Shutterstock

Is this China’s move against the PM ahead of polls?

The hacking of the PM’s account is being called as an act of foreign interference in the Australian democracy ahead of 2022 general elections. Clearly, millions of Chinese Australians using the social media platform will fail to stay connected with the Prime Minister or access any information or messages that he may wish to convey to the Australia's Chinese community.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Anthony Albanese’s WeChat account remains intact.

Following the incident, the federal government has requested the Chinese government to reinstate the Prime Minister's account. Reportedly, the WeChat platform owner Tencent has stated that there is “no evidence of any hacking or third-party intrusion” of the PM’s account.

Meanwhile, the Morrison party members and his supporters have urged people to boycott the Chinese social media platform.

You may read: Why did China’s WeChat delete Scott Morrison’s message?

Should Australia ban Chinese apps?

Tensions between Australia and China have been climbing high ever since Australia called for an independent probe into the origins of COVID-19 at the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020. And the situation is only turning bitter with such events of unexpected contretemps.

The unauthorised handling of Morrison’s WeChat account has prompted the government to consider stringent actions against the concerned authority. But should it remain limited to WeChat? Or should Australia ban all Chinese apps?

The Chinese government has received criticism and faced scrutiny globally time and again for its way of handling of user data privacy on its social media platforms as well as apps. The Chinese government has been accused by several nations for conducting surveillance of people’s personal accounts and even breaching privacy terms for its benefits.

India and the United States are some of the governments to have taken loud and clear actions against the authoritative governance of the China’s Communist Party over Chinese apps. The Chinese-owned video-sharing service TikTok is one of the apps that faced absolute ban in some countries last year over data security issues.

Now is the time for Australia to decide if it would allow Chinese apps to continue to operate in the country or impose strict ban on their usage.

The Economic Corner || Why U.S. And Allies Have Accused China Of Global Hacking?

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