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ChinaDiplomacy

Australian PM’s WeChat transferred to new owner, not hacked, Chinese operator Tencent says

  • Scott Morrison’s account was renamed ‘Australian Chinese new life’, sparking concerns in Australia about interference and pro-China propaganda
  • But Tencent finds no evidence of third-party intrusion and says the account was transferred normally

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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s WeChat account was renamed “Australian Chinese new life”. Photo: EPA-EFE
Zhao ZiwenandGuo Rui
Claims that the WeChat account of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was hacked or shut down have been denied by the Chinese social media platform’s operator, which said the account’s ownership had been transferred.
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Australian lawmakers had raised concerns about potential Chinese interference and advocated boycotting WeChat after the account, formerly under the name “ScottMorrison2019”, was this month renamed “Australian Chinese new life” and found to have a new owner based in China.

But Tencent, which owns WeChat, told the South China Morning Post the account had already been owned by a Chinese citizen and had been transferred normally to its new owner.

“There is no evidence of any third-party intrusion,” it said. “Based on our information, this appears to be a dispute over account ownership.”

Followers of ScottMorrison2019 were notified on January 5 that the account, previously registered to an owner surnamed Ji, now belonged to Fuzhou 985 Information Technology Co Ltd. Filings available at Chinese companies database TianYanCha.com showed that an individual called Huang Aipeng was the owner.

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With Morrison yet to comment about the changes to the account, it is not known whether Ji had acquired it on his behalf. It is an official subscription account, which can be registered only by a Chinese identity card holder.

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