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Canada bans WeChat, Kaspersky applications on government devices (www.reuters.com)

submitted 8 months ago by tioute@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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Tencent's WeChat and Kaspersky's suite of applications have been removed from government-issued mobile devices effective October 30, 2023. Going forward, users of these devices will be blocked from downloading the apps.

WeChat is the super app in China with over 1 billion monthly users, and is a ubiquitous part of daily life in China. You can essentially do everything through WeChat, which is convenient.

However, this convenience comes at a cost. WeChat has monopolized the market to the extent that users have little say in front of the app. Identity verification is mandatory, and the app can suspend accounts at any time. And WeChat has always had the support of the central government, receiving funding, and the government has often restricted or banned competing apps.

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[-] woshang@lemmy.world 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Canada banning WeChat is a great idea, for the country's security and privacy. Speak of that, look at what Elon is doing; he keeps trying to turn Twitter into WeChat, and he won't stop until he makes it true!

In case you are not familiar with WeChat and the seriousness of its censorship toward users: 👇

We have to ditch centralized platforms for our own sake! And there are plenty of choices: Mastodon, Misskey, WireMin, Damus. (PS: WireMin is a combination of a private messenger & social media; it's my favorite for now because I get to join chat groups for anonymous discussions.)

[-] Amaltheamannen@lemmy.ml 6 points 8 months ago

While I agree that privacy is important the censorship claim in the image is based entirely on "I think", no proof beyond opinion.

[-] Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

"There's no proof of censorship in the USSR, I can go to the Party Library and read whatever books I want"

[-] Amaltheamannen@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 months ago

I don't deny it's plausible, but back it up with something stronger than "I suspect".

this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2023

169 points (96.2% liked)

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