After Prime Minister Scott Morrison's WeChat account was hacked, a Liberal member of parliament accused the Chinese government of foreign intervention.
"It is a matter of record that the platform has stopped the Prime Minister's access, while Anthony Albanese's account is still active featuring posts criticising the government," Liberal representative Gladys Liu stated
"In an election year especially, this sort of interference in our political processes is unacceptable, and this matter should be taken extremely seriously by all Australian politicians."
Liu stated she would stop utilizing her professional and personal WeChat accounts until the platform presented an explanation for the incident as part of her accusations against the Chinese government.
Several Coalition members have supported Liu's charges and boycott, with Liberal Senator James Paterson, chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, asking for Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese to boycott WeChat as well.
The Prime Minister's office is attempting to contact the Chinese government regarding the account hijacking, according to Stuart Robert, the Minister responsible for digital transformation, who told The Today Show on Monday morning.
"It is odd, and of course, the Prime Minister's office is seeking to connect through to them to work out and get it resolved," Robert said.
Morrison's WeChat account was apparently changed and he had accessibility issues months ago, according to NewsCorp Australia, with the Prime Minister being unable to access the account at all.
Morrison's account is linked to a Chinese national based in Fujian, according to Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Fergus Ryan, because WeChat's policies at the time mandated accounts to be linked to the ID of a Chinese national or a business registered in China.
A Tencent spokesman confirmed to ZDNet on Monday evening that the account was originally registered by a PRC individual, but that it is currently being managed by a technology services organisation.
"Based on our information, this appears to be a dispute over account ownership -- the account in question was originally registered by a PRC individual and was subsequently transferred to its current operator, a technology services company -- and it will be handled in accordance with our platform rules," the Tencent spokesperson said.
"Tencent is committed to upholding the integrity of our platform and the security of all users accounts, and we will continue to look into this matter."
According to ABC News, Morrison's WeChat account was sold to Fuzhou 985 Information Technology in November of last year by the registered owner.
The Chinese corporation allegedly purchased the social media account since it had roughly 75,000 followers and had no idea it was owned by Morrison.
WeChat has been subjected to increasing restrictions in China, after being placed on notice last year for gathering more user data than was considered essential while providing services.
