WeChat data report was questioned for monitoring users, Tencent responded

WeChat recently released its 2018 WeChat Data Report, which showed encouraging results such as WeChat's monthly active users exceeding 1 billion. It also disclosed the official WeChat statistics on the messaging habits of users of different age groups.

However, some data in this report has once again sparked discussions about privacy protection, with some users questioning whether WeChat is suspected of monitoring user chat content.

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Tencent also responded to such questions. According to the Beijing News, Tencent said that all data in the WeChat annual data report has been anonymized and sensitive, and will not involve the privacy of specific users. At the same time, it also reiterated that "WeChat will not read or retain any user's chat history, and the chat content is only stored on the user's mobile phone, computer and other terminal devices."

The report also quoted a person close to Tencent as saying, "Tencent uses SSL encryption technology for user chats. This technology is universal. Any company that uses this technology can technically view the information, but will not do so."

However, Zhu Cong (pseudonym), a postdoctoral fellow in Internet-related majors at Nanyang Technological University, explained that SSL can ensure that data is not eavesdropped or tampered with during transmission, but the data is not in an encrypted form on the server. The server can view and modify the message content and even conduct some content censorship.

Zhu Cong said that from a technical perspective, WeChat has the ability to view users' chat messages, but as a service provider, protecting user privacy is also "the bottom line that must be maintained."