A Chinese American civil liberties organization has sued WeChat’s parent company, alleging that it funnels private user data and communication to the People’s Republic of China.
The lawsuit, filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, alleges that Tencent’s privacy policy is deliberately vague and ambiguous with respect to whether the challenged practices are permitted or prohibited.
“It is no secret that WeChat has been functioning as the Chinese government’s long alarm,” said Dr. Jian Li Yang, president of Citizen Power Initiatives for China (CPIC). “WeChat shares information of its users with the government so that the government can use it against the users if they find there is a problem in their eyes.”
The CPIC was founded some 13 years ago.
“The CPIC helps Chinese American citizens defend their rights in the face of danger imposed by the Chinese government, which will, in turn, help us with freedom of speech in China,” Yang told the Southern California Record.
The challenged practices in the lawsuit include censorship, surveillance, and controlling the distribution of information.
“Most of the users are Chinese Americans who use WeChat to put out information, statements and mainly to communicate with family members or friends back in China,” Yang said in an interview. “Sometimes, the content of their correspondence may pose a threat and may be used as evidence against the WeChat users' relatives and friends who live in China.”
WeChat had more than 1.2 billion users on a monthly basis during 2020’s third quarter, according to Statista.
“The Chinese government may not be able to come to this country to harass me but they can easily retaliate by harassing my brother who lives in China,” said Yang who lives in California.
The plaintiffs request the court assess monetary damages and issue an opinion that will stop Tencent’s WeChat California from reporting users to the Chinese government.
“American citizens should be very concerned because most of the people who have any interaction with China, such as business owners, use WeChat and by using it, his or her privacy is subject to Chinese government surveillance,” Yang said. “Their information can be gathered through WeChat and sent to the big data center run by the government, which poses a threat to the privacy of American citizens.”
Among the statutes the complaint alleges Tencent violated is the unfair competition law, according to CPIC’s Attorney Times Wang.
“The California Constitution also has a very strong right to privacy,” Wang told the Southern California Record. “There are privacy issues, there are tort violations and the unfair competition law. California’s electronics privacy statute covers wiretapping activity. There are no shortage of laws on the books that we think apply to what Tencent is doing in California.”
Tencent is represented by Gibson Dunn law firm.