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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Anne Davies and Wing Kuang

A Swiss army knife app: what is WeChat and how is it being used in Australia’s 2022 federal election?

WeChat Australia China Facebook Labor Josh Frydenberg Scott Morrison Solomons 9News WhatsApp
WeChat app on screen
Australian politicians are increasingly using WeChat to reach Chinese-Australian voters, but experts say those decisions come with risks. Photograph: Florence Lo/Reuters

WeChat has become a key arena for Australian politicians, media and party faithful to communicate election messaging, but among the usual campaign fare, unauthorised attack ads and wildly enthusiastic “news” articles about candidates have become commonplace.

There are also signs that WeChat could again be weaponised with fake news and misleading content, as it was in 2019.

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