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WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance

reuters.com

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Re: WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance

#111

Post by ypzhang2 »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #39
mc32 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Naively, it looks like the CCP sees the influence and heft US tech exercises on the US population and world at large. The CCP will forgo economic might (in this sector) for social stability and control every time. They do not want these titans to have more power or influence than they have so they rein them in and let them know who holds the straps.

This doesn't make sense to me. Centralized power is good (if that's what you want, and it seems like that's the MO of the CCP). They just need to control it. They should want Tencent to take over the world - with them in complete control of Tencent (which they basically already are). Why should the CCP afraid of Tencent getting big instead of trying everything they can to make Tencent and ByteDance etc bigger?

Two flaws would be to assume A) the ccp is a monolithic entity And B) they have complete control over tencent et al. Some control isn’t complete control.

Factions exist in the ccp and having outside concentrations of power can lead to dangerous fragmentation that can also affect the internal politics of the ccp

Re: WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance

#112

Post by fortuna86 »

xrikcus wrote: post #72
fortuna86 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And forget getting the weChat payment functionality working with a foreign bank.

It works pretty reliable with discoverbank cards, but that's because they are unionpay compatible. It was a complete mess getting the app to the point where it would let me use it for payments at all, though.

When I tried to troubleshoot getting a bank linked to the account, WeChat suspended the account for "suspicious behavior". That was that.

Re: WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance

#113

Post by ypzhang2 »

starfallg wrote: post #78
georgeecollins wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> The problem is that the CCP has nothing to replace this cultural vacuum with. I am no expert, but I disagree and I think this is the kind of thinking that has failed the west for the last thirty years. I think the idea started with the fall of the Soviet Union. That culture and ideology was bankrupt. So a lot of western people thought that when there was a free exchange of ideas with China, the Chinese would event…

>My experience of people in China-- admittedly a long time ago-- was they are generally very patriotic or nationalistic, like Americans. They appreciate the CCP and what it has accomplished. They have a strong domestic arts industry making movies, books, games. Sure lots of people disagree with the party, but that doesn't that they want a western liberal democracy. Having been on the inside, it's not that they don't…

Anecdotally, western democracy was seen as a means to an end for many “common folk Chinese”. The end is prosperity. Now that the prosperity gap has drastically closed (also there are more clear paths to prosperity), the desire has also dissipated. China has also seen a China-like society in Singapore achieve a very strong economic and social outcome with authoritarian government, so western style democracies aren’t the only “role model” so to speak anymore

Re: WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance

#114

Post by hodgesrm »

starfallg wrote: post #78
georgeecollins wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> The problem is that the CCP has nothing to replace this cultural vacuum with. I am no expert, but I disagree and I think this is the kind of thinking that has failed the west for the last thirty years. I think the idea started with the fall of the Soviet Union. That culture and ideology was bankrupt. So a lot of western people thought that when there was a free exchange of ideas with China, the Chinese would event…

>My experience of people in China-- admittedly a long time ago-- was they are generally very patriotic or nationalistic, like Americans. They appreciate the CCP and what it has accomplished. They have a strong domestic arts industry making movies, books, games. Sure lots of people disagree with the party, but that doesn't that they want a western liberal democracy. Having been on the inside, it's not that they don't…

I'm troubled that your comment was downvoted. It seems very reasonable. Thank you for posting.

Re: WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance

#115

Post by xxpor »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #45
throwaway4good wrote: post #2

"Shares in Tencent plunged 9.0% in Hong Kong on Tuesday amid widespread market jitters over Chinese regulatory crackdowns on high-growth sectors, including online platforms and, most recently, private tutoring. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index (.HSI) fell 4.2%." Fascinating how the Chinese authorities seem to be regulating the these companies with complete disregard on how the stock market might react.

Good. Regulators shouldn't care about stock prices at all. They should always do the right thing and let the market crash if necessary.

That's absurd that they shouldn't pay ANY attention. You can go too far in both directions. The stock price is an indirect indicator of the material impact of the regulation.

Re: WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance

#116

Post by dirtyid »

tpm wrote: post #109
refenestrator wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're not open to other opinions, you will hear none, and that's entirely on you. In extremely broad strokes, China has gone from colonized and poor to powerful and rich. Is it so hard to believe that the average Zhao is pretty OK with things?

It's not a question of belief, it's more a question of who is speaking - him or the state propaganda? We had the same in communist Eastern Europe - you publicly said things that you thought were ok and assumed anyone with ears can be an agent of the regime. Privately you might have thought something very different, but why end up in prison and cause problems for your family?

China is not an Eastern European "old country" that got broken and remains broken because communism. IMO I find an interesting divergance in opinions immigrants of ex-soviet bloc countries and China, the former mostly has experience of decline and bad times to draw from, the latter largely supports and are of proud of modern PRC, many have aspirations to return / sea tutural back to live and work. You'll find many Chinese people genuininely defend PRC (and CCP) precisely because China isn't a failed communist Eastern European country.

Re: WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance

#117

Post by MangoCoffee »

hamburgerwah wrote: post #85

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding in this thread that there can be chinese companies that are somehow separate from the government. All chinese companies are defacto part of the government. The CEO of all chinese enterprises is Xi Jinping.

it remind me of this news from years ago:

China’s Millionaires Visit Communist Revolution Sanctuary Clad in Military Uniforms of the Era

https://japan-forward.com/chinas-millionaires-visit-communis...

Re: WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance

#119

Post by dillondoyle »

tablespoon wrote: post #73
georgeecollins wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> The problem is that the CCP has nothing to replace this cultural vacuum with. I am no expert, but I disagree and I think this is the kind of thinking that has failed the west for the last thirty years. I think the idea started with the fall of the Soviet Union. That culture and ideology was bankrupt. So a lot of western people thought that when there was a free exchange of ideas with China, the Chinese would event…

I think you're broadly correct. With regard to China, a lot of people's understanding is driven in large part by wishful thinking, which is a serious weakness and vulnerability. > Sure lots of people disagree with the party, but that doesn't that they want a western liberal democracy. So lots of people will speak in favor of a benevolent elite and against populism or what they see as western chaos or oppression. When…

+1. When you take what you're saying with the parent above you, Xi is also pulling all the state media strings to play up the less-corrupt benevolence thing - using it to consolidate power. Check out this recent good article about their extrajudicial 'repatriations' which has examples of the bragging in their government controlled media about it (kidnappings).

It's both trying to show less corruption and simultaneously scaring everyone away from dissent. Gross but seems powerful.

https://www.propublica.org/article/operation-fox-hunt-how-ch...

Re: WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance

#120

Post by dirtyid »

Steltek wrote: post #93
sudosysgen wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, yes and no. Go to reddit for example, you can find endless amounts of people explaining the Chinese perspective and getting voted down and accused of being wumaos, and you'll get banned for it in many places too. At some point I imagine it gets tiring.

Isn't that the problem though? How do you know you're getting a genuine opinion when there's a public, broad, and well funded astroturf campaign? What even is a genuine opinion or free thought when the government employs such ruthless censorship?

>a public, broad, and well funded astroturf campaign?

Abroad where 50c doesn't operate? Reality is there aren't any substantial large scale astroturf campaigns from PRC according to recent foreign influence reports from western social media companies (see Twitter, Facebook). There's hand full of practice bit increasingly competent script kiddie tier campaigns with limited exposure on subject matters most westerners don't care about but CCP does (i.e. GuoWenGui). Even less so per studies before 2020 that only found anti-China social media manipulation that targeted PRC netizens who jumped the firewall. The real brainwashing is thinking Chinese opinion can't be "genuine opinion or free thought" because ruthless western manufactured consent created a misinformation enviroment that insinuates PRC opinions are totally controlled even abroad. There's plenty of genuine PRC supporters in the diasphora, and plenty of opponents as well. The former are usually the educated folks who immigrated in the last 10-30 years with duo perspective on Chinese/western models, largely normal people. The latter are dissidents, groups marginalized by CCP, who only has snapshot / out of date / time bubble memory of PRC. Incidentally they're the ones creating epochetimes, hanging with insurrectionist, and trying to convince western audiences that being pro PRC can't be a genuine opinion.

Here's the 2021 RAND report on PRC disinformation from a week ago:

* China has not carried out substantial disinformation attacks on other U.S. allies or partners (such as Singapore, the Philippines, or Japan).

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR4373z3.html

PRC information campaigns are being tested, they may target west one day. But the idea that PRC is astroturfing the west is the product of western astroturfing itself.

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