Can WeChat steal your data?

WeChat, another very well known Chinese social app, is know to have access to text message, contacts and locations of its users. This, when combined with the strict and concerning Chinese laws (more details below), can put user data at risk.

Does the Chinese government spy on WeChat?

WeChat can access and expose the text messages, contact books, and location histories of its users. Due to WeChat’s popularity, the Chinese government uses WeChat as a data source to conduct mass surveillance in China.

Is WeChat a safe app?

The app doesn’t provide anything that might look like some kind of protection. It lacks end-to-end encryption and has many security holes. Apart from that, it is used by the Chinese authorities for the purpose of censorship and mass surveillance on a global scale. So, by all means, it isn’t safe.

What info does WeChat collect?

WeChat International stated that chat data, which constitutes “[c]ontent of communications between you and another user or group of users” is “stored on your device and the devices of the users that you have sent communications to.

How safe is WeChat video call?

Originally Answered: Is a video call safe in WeChat? Yes, it is relatively as safe as Skype call or Facetime. Don’t worry about it.

Is WeChat Safe USA?

“How safe is your information as an American using WeChat?” Safer than any US based App. WeChat is owned by Tencent Holdings, a Chinese company subject to Chinese, not US laws. As such, my information is extremely safe from US government intrusion and being American, that is what’s important to me.

Is WeChat Web safe?

WeChat is secure because it is password protected, so as long as you don’t share your account info with anyone, your messages will stay private, between you and your contacts. This keeps your account secure, however, by default, WeChat keeps the user signed into the app, even when they close it.

What is WeChat and why is the Chinese government obsessed with it?

China’s most popular messaging app, WeChat, has always had a close relationship with the Chinese government. The app has been subsidized by the government since its creation in 2011, and it’s an accepted reality that officials censor and monitor users.

Does WeChat spy on users outside of China?

Content surveillance between users of accounts registered outside of China is functionally undetectable. None of WeChat’s public-facing policy documents, personal data access requests processes, or privacy officers communicated that the company is conducting this surveillance.

What is a non-China-registered WeChat account?

A non-China-registered account is any WeChat account that was not originally registered to a mainland Chinese phone number (for example an account registered to a Canadian or United States phone number). China-registered accounts are under terms of service in the jurisdiction of China (specifically Shenzhen) and are subject to censorship.

Why is WeChat censoring articles from foreign media in Canada?

When a top Huawei executive was arrested in Canada in 2018, articles from foreign news media were quickly censored on WeChat. Her Chinese friends both inside and outside China began to say that Canada had no justice, which contradicted her own experience.