Parents in China told to delete encrypted messaging apps from kids’ phones to prevent inadvertent role in online scams
- Encrypted messaging apps are a ‘grey zone’, as criminals can easily destroy proof, police in multiple Chinese cities warn in social media posts
- Kids fooled into chatting with them may be regarded as assisting internet crimes, the posts say, urging that parents delete such apps
The social media accounts of local police forces around the country have been circulating messages since last week warning against children using instant messaging apps like the long-blocked Telegram and domestically founded BatChat.
The police force in the eastern city is one of about a dozen countrywide found by the Post to have issued such warnings.
Other texting apps to be guarded against included Seagull, Shimida and Miliaomao, all founded in China and allowed behind its Great Firewall, as well as WhatsApp and Twitter, which are banned and can only be accessed over a virtual private network.
The encryption function, which translates chat data into codes to avoid unauthorised access, together with the “delete after reading” function, had made it easier for criminals to destroy evidence, Nanjing police said in its post, warning that users of the apps were operating in a “grey zone”.
