If you are not from China, chances are high you have never heard of WeChat. So, you probably didn’t know that it is the biggest mobile app in China and one of the biggest in de world. WeChat has more than 950 million monthly active users. This is more than, for example, Instagram. By now, you are probably wondering what WeChat is. WeChat is owned by Tencent, the most valuable Chinese brand according to BrandZ.
It is hard to describe the activities of the company, because there is nothing like it in the western part of the world. The app was first released as a messaging app, in January of the year 2011. Today it is known as “The App for Everything”, because of its many functions and platforms. The app enables you to do everything within your daily life: purchase flight tickets, transfer money, pay your utility bills or make an appointment at the hairdresser. Oh yes, you can also use the app for text messaging. The best thing is: you can do all this without leaving the app.
This sounds very convenient, and it is, but there is also a downside. All the information about the 950 million users is saved on WeChat servers. This means that the app knows who your friends are, how much money you have, where you live, where you work, where you buy your coffee, what kind of food you like, and so on… In most cases, these WeChat servers are located inside China. This means that they are within reach of Chinese law and regulations.
A year ago, Amnesty International conducted a survey. They ranked that eleven most popular messaging apps in the world in terms of protection of user privacy. Amnesty International found the following: “Tencent owns the two most popular messaging apps in China, WeChat and QQ, and is bottom of our message privacy scorecard, scoring zero out of 100. Not only did it fail to adequately meet any of the criteria, but it was the only company which has not stated publicly that it will not grant government requests to access encrypted messages by building a “backdoor”.”
Last month’s update to the platform’s privacy policy stated that saved data may be disclosed to representatives of the Chinese government. To the extend it didn’t already, WeChat now admits that data is being shared with the government.
Why is this important to know? I’m fine when I use WeChat outside of China, right? This is true for most cases. When you start chatting with someone that uses WeChat inside of China, things get different. Now, all your messages and information will be stored on Tencent servers. No need to be afraid. But just keep in mind, WeChat is like the ring from Lord of the Rings: the moment you put it on, they know how to find you.
Sources:
Instagram now has 800 million monthly and 500 million daily active users
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/01/06/tencent_s_wechat_worldwide_internet_users_are_voluntarily_submitting_to.html
It’s official, WeChat shares private user data with the Chinese government
http://www.dw.com/en/hello-big-brother-how-china-controls-its-citizens-through-social-media/a-38243388
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2016/10/which-messaging-apps-best-protect-your-privacy/
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/20/tencent-becomes-chinas-first-100-billion-brand-wpp-survey.html
Three* Apps for the Socialites sharing their day,
Seven** for the Messengers with friends widespread,
Nine*** for the Many Men over whom Google holds sway,
One for the People’s Congress in red,
In the Land of Dai Qin where shines Sun’s first ray,
One App to rule them all, One App to find them,
One App to bring them all, and in dragon’s flame bind them,
In the Land of Dai Qin there dawns a new day.
*Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter
**WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, QQ Mobile, and so on
***Gmail, Chrome, YouTube, Playstore, Hangouts, Maps, and ever so on
This reply made my day! If there was a price for the best reply, you would be my #1 nominee! 😉
Interesting comparison Rink! The big difference is however that the ring in Lord of the Rings was something precious and exclusive while WeChat currently serves 950 million monthly active users. It is interesting though to see how Chinese giants like Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba can expand to other countries like India or even Europe and United States of America. This is for Tencent even more interesting because it is difficult to look at Tencent without considering the privacy issues. But if there are no possibilities to expand in other countries, it makes you wonder how the company wants to continue or even strengthen the growth traject for the next couple years.
Besides, it is funny to see how the presence of Tencent and Facebook can be viewed very differently by politics. In the United States Facebook is blamed for allowing fake news during the presidential elections of last year. Recently Facebook announced that many advertisements were bought by Russian accounts to influence the elections. It is interesting to compare that to how China can maintain their censorship effectively through such a dominant medium like Tencent that connects most inhabitants and centralizes their online activities. So, cooperating with the Chinese government is a requirement of having a successful business in China, but it might complicate the international operations.
That is what surprised me too Bram! Most people know how little Tencent does to protect personal information, but just do not care. Maybe it has to do with the lock-in-effect? People just keep using WeChat because it is so convenient?
That is indeed a valid question to ask. I’ve read somewhere that WeChat is working on an augmented reality platform. The artificial intelligence team is said to be working on its own 3D rendering engine, which they can use in smartphone-based AR apps. I’m sure WeChat will find ways to expand their services somehow, they seem to be pretty good at that ?
Nice Blog Rink!
I personally have used WeChat when I lived in China. I used it mainly to communicate with friends and family and to share pictures with them. Once or twice I used it to transfer money to someone. In my opinion this mobile application is more user friendly than for instance Whatsapp. What I like the most was that, indeed, the app is very complete and you can do many things without leaving the app.
I find your blog really interesting and it made me realize that the ‘completeness’ of the app is also the reason why it is an alarming thought that they possess so much information. I noticed a few things when I was in China. First of all, everybody uses it. I think not many Chinese people realize how much information they give away or they don’t care that much. I don’t think they are willing to give up this app because everybody around them uses it. For friends, work, school etc. That is what makes Tencent so sustainable, the network effects are a great strength of them.
However, to tackle this privacy problem, I believe that there are not enough Chinese privacy activists to change the current standard for Chinese social media companies. That is why I think it is reasonable for organizations such as Amnesty International and foreign governments to interfere and to take the right measurements in the direction of safe and fair privacy regulation. I believe there are still opportunities to protect our own privacy rights.
I totally agree with the LOTR reference!
But we all know what happens with the ring at the end;)
Hi Jade, thanks for your reply! Interesting to hear from someone that is actually using the app. It seemed very convenient to me as well, but I never actually used the app.
That is true! The fact that it is convenient and you can do everything inside the app, also makes it very dangerous. And as I mentioned to Bram before, there is probably a lock-in-effect. The people know that it is very helpful and all their friends are using it, so they keep using it.
I think it will take a while before things change. If big companies like Google, Facebook and Whatsapp can’t get a foothold in China, who will? On the other hand, nobody thought Frodo could destroy the ring, but he did! I still have hope ?
Hi Rink,
An interesting topic that you chose. As someone who has used WeChat for a while in China, it’s quite astonishing what the app is capable of, especially considering that there exists no Western counterpart to it. For western nations such as the Netherlands, privacy can be a pretty big deal. However, from my experience Chinese have a different concept of privacy and are much more indifferent towards such issues than we are. For example, a Bloomberg article states that only half of Chinese believe they should be cautious when giving out private information online, compared to the global average of 76%.
I suggest you give this article a read: https://origin-www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-05-17/why-china-doesn-t-care-about-privacy
Thanks for your reply Dilshan! That is what surprised me when I first heard about the app.
Interesting to read about the difference in the concept privacy. I didn’t know that people think so different about personal information and privacy. The Bloomberg article you send makes it very clear.
It got me thinking, you might have heard of the new data mining law the Dutch government passed? In Dutch, it is called the “sleepwet”. It gives the intelligence agencies AIVD and MIVD more power to collect, store and analyse internet traffic. This law has caused quite some commotion throughout the country. A group of activists recently managed to collect the required 300 thousand signatures necessary to hold an advisory referendum on the new law.
If I compare this to the way the privacy-culture is described in China, it is very clear that the two cultures differ a lot. Thanks for pointing out this difference!
Hello Rink!
As a Chinese student, your post caught my eyes immediately after opening the homepage. Following are some information and personal experience on the development of social media I would like to share.
I have been using Wechat for over 5 years. In early 2012, Wechat is not that prevalent in China because of QQ (what you mentioned in the article), MSN (Microsoft chatting software, which is very popular before the rising of QQ), and Line (a freeware app for instant communications, firstly launched in Japan). However, after the forbiddance of Google, Facebook, Instagram, Line also became inaccessible in China. Then after the launch of WeChat, more people switches to WeChat. The user group of WeChat is accumulated in the 20-30 age generation (please see link 1).
To obtain more information and description about how functional WeChat is, I highly recommend this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAesMQ6VtK8&t=254s (How China is Changing your Internet). The video briefly illustrated all the functions and the technology of WeChat.
Talking about the data privacy, as an active user of WeChat, I can tell that indeed all our personal information was shared with various parties, such as commercial companies and government according to my own experience. For instance, in the function “moments”(where you share your photos or comments), there can be an advertisement. And, the advertisement is various among different person, based on his/her previous posts in “moments”. By analyzing their posts, the platform can judge your income level and pop up corresponding commercials. In addition, if your posts included any sensitive political comments, your post will be removed in a minute. So actually, you are monitored by the administrator and even by the government. There is no way to protect yourself from privacy leakage since the world is transparent due to the Internet and data technology. So indeed, once you open WeChat, they can find you.
(Link 1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/387658/wechat-china-user-age/)
Hello Rink and also Yuxin,
I find this article especially interesting because of what is currently happening within The Netherlands. As you might know, the people of the Netherlands are currently holding a petition to call for a referendum about an interesting new law that allows the Dutch authorities to have access to a huge amount of private data. (https://nltimes.nl/2017/10/10/enough-signatures-collected-referendum-new-dutch-big-data-law)
I wonder how the Chinese people view the fact that their information is being shared with the chines government. As you can tell by the link posted above, the Dutch people have made clear that we do not want our privacy to be invaded by our government (even though I assume that this does already happen). While we understand the intention of the Dutch Government to ensure an adequate remit for the national security services, this bill raises serious issues. The measures proposed are extremely intrusive and detrimental to the fundamental rights of civilians and companies worldwide. Let me know what you believe the opinion on this topic is amongst the Chinese people!
Hello Melvin,
I chose to write this article with the current developments in the Netherlands in mind. It is amazing to see that people can react very differently to (probable) privacy leakage. Although the new law could increase national security, a lot of people feel their privacy is more important.
As Dilshan pointed out in the response above, the Chinese concept of privacy is very different from the one we have in the Netherlands. People in China are much more indifferent about their personal information being accessed by the government. I think the Dutch government wishes it had the same amount of access to data as the Chinese government does.
Hi Yuxin! Thanks for replying to the article. Interesting to read about your experiences with the app. I did know that data was shared with the government, but I did not know they also actively shared data with commercial companies.
About your personal experience with the “moments” function, how did you feel when you noticed that advertisements were being adjusted by your previous posts. Did you ever feel exposed? You mention that there is no way to protect yourself form privacy leakage, but don’t you think Tencent could do more to protect your data?
There was an event happed the end of last month. A 31 years old man, let’s call him XX, was arrested by the Beijing police because he said something like “Join the ISIS with me” in the WeChat group while using Osama Bin Laden as a portfolio picture. Even though nobody replied to him at all and everybody continued the discussion with other topics, he was arrested by Beijing police because he violated the Chinese law of dissemination of terrorism and extremism.
Indeed, everything you type in a WeChat group will be recorded in the Tencent server and most of them are open to the government. In a way, I feel safer but on the other way I feel that I’m always been watched by the big brother. Finally, I wanted to quote this very famous sentence, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be used in the court.”
Thanks for your reply Danna! Unbelievable that something like this happens. In this situation it doesn’t look like “You have the right to remain silent” but “You shall remain silent. Anything you say will be used in the court.” If you can’t even discuss topics with your friends or family, where does that leave “freedom of speech”? I wonder, do academics speak their minds? Or do they leave the sensitive topics undiscussed?
I must say, I get that people that are associated with terrorist group, are being followed/monitored more closely. But continuous monitoring of all conversations, don’t you think that is a bit too much?
Interesting topic!
You highlight many points, which, I believe, are (privacy) issues not only limited to China, but also apply to us, the Western world.
You mentioned that the government is able to look into the data that WeChat has, however, not long ago, there was also an uproar in the Western world, when Snowden realized that the NSA was tapping our information too. Just like in the UK and also in the Netherlands. So, are we really this different than China? Also, in China, every digital user knows that the government is listening with them and also censoring them, as they are aware of that, I have noticed that these digital users also adapt their behavior to that system.
Furthermore, WeChat has indeed a lot of information about their users, but if you compare it to Facebook, I believe that FB also has a lot of data, and maybe even more than we ourselves realize. One thing that you might have noticed, is the facebook plugin on many websites that you visited. Using this plugin, FB can track your every move. Moreover, if you have ever read the privacy terms of FB, FB sometimes is able to get info from you from third party partners. So they do have a pretty complete image about us too.
So,in my opinion, this problem is also our problem. If you look at the news, generally there is a cycle of uproar where everyone is suddenly invested and then the uproar slowly dies down. It does feel like we are pretty locked in the digital sphere.
However, for me the following question that arises: will we ever be able to escape Big Brother? If so, what are the steps that we as users should take?
Thank you for your reply! You make a fair point, although I must say that there are some differences.
You name the example of Snowden and revealing how the US taps into our information. A key difference here is that we were not aware of the NSA doing this. Most of the people in Europe were shocked when they found out their personal information was in the hands of the US. However, as you point out yourself, people in China are aware of the fact that the government is monitoring data. It is true that it is not only the Chinese government that has access to a lot of information, but there is a difference in the reactions of the people.
Further, you are right about the fact that Facebook has access to a lot of information as well. Another key difference is how this data is handled. Tencent is amongst the lowest in terms of data protections, this is very different at Facebook. Facebook tries to protect its user’s data as much as possible, so that third parties can’t get to it.
To answer your following questions: I don’t think we’ll ever be able to escape Big Brother. Companies/governments will never settle with less data/information, they will want more and more.
This is a very interesting post. I am not really surprised about the fact that information gets shared with the Chinese Government. In addition to what Dilshan said, it’s not a secret that in Chinese business context privacy and data security concerns are not a big issue. I would be very reluctant to use the app since it is not just a messaging app but basically a platform offering all kinds of every day functionalities. It gathers various personal data, credit card details, tracks your virtual interaction and can basically extract a lot of information about its users. For the Chinese government this seems like a perfect tool for spying on Chinese citizens but also on various internationals using it.
Thanks for your reply Isabel! That is why it is perfect for the Chinese government: one platform where most of the (young) people take care of all of their daily stuff. You get information about all the different aspects of the lives of the people living in your country. It must be a data scientist paradise! Imagine the value that you can create by using that data!
From a business perspective, it sounds like a perfect platform. You have lots of active daily users and can create more and more applications based on their data. From privacy perspective, it sounds like a great nightmare.
I think that Chinese people look more at the convenience the app offers, were more Western people would look at the privacy aspect.
Mhmm, as a big Lord of the Rings fan I was quite offended by the comparisement of LOTR and WeChat. Firstly because I have never heard of WeChat. But also because of the weird relation between them. As I was reading through your article I now fully understand the relation and I do kinda agree. Funny how the Ring makes you kind of invisible for normal human beings, but visable for the eye. You can say this for social life too, as you go on WeChat, You are invisible as a person for others, but WeChat can follow you!
The first thing what comes in mind is what others also commented. Do you think this is only about WeChat? Since privacy concerns are a hot topic, especially here in Information Strategy, what is your opinion about the danger of WeChat for privacy concerns? Dont you think other companies might be doing the same, but these details are still hidden?
Hi Alwin! I’m sorry, I meant no offense ? That is actually true! Another comparison between WeChat and the Ring: you are invisible for normal people, but not for the (Chinese) eye!!
I do think other big companies are doing the same. I recently read a blog about OnePlus gathering date on their phones, including the serial number. Since they sell all the phones themselves, they know who the serial number belongs to. They are probably not the only one, lots of other companies know more about you than you know. In that sense, I think it is positive that governments can access data as well. Big companies use data to better fit their customer’s needs. Perhaps, by using all the data, governments are better able to meet citizens needs as well?
This relates directly to a blog I recently posted about how Tencent and Alibaba are cooperating to build a platform called Sesame credit. This post explains perfectly how they are able to gather all the data necessary for the system to work. It is crazy to think that people actually accept that their privacy is breached in such a way. It opens the door to a whole lot of possibilities which are detrimental to society and human rights.
I really wonder how you feel about this after you’ve read the blog I posted,
https://digitalstrategy.rsm.nl//2017/10/18/open-sesame/
Thanks for your interesting reply Joost! This is really something to think about. Through this system, the government can force people to behave socially desirable. In some situations, this is a good thing, but the examples you describe explain the dark side. It could further threaten the freedom of speech. Nowadays, when you say something negative about the government, it is only you that suffers. In the new system, all the people affiliated with you will suffer from what you did.
In this system, the Chinese government will not only monitor the data, it will use the data to control the behaviour of their citizens. It will turn everyone into puppets: behaving in ways someone else wants them to. Do you think it will really get this far?
I love this comparison, fascinating to read. Yeah, I agree that privacy is becoming an issue lately, whether you are in China or out of the country. There has been an ongoing buzz that most social media apps collect data and use it to for analytics and advertising.