Advertisements authorised by the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, have appeared on WeChat despite Coalition politicians calling for a boycott of the social media platform.
The ads, which attack Anthony Albanese and celebrate Chinese New Year, were posted on WeChat by the Chinese-Australian website Australian Financial News (AFN), along with articles in which the treasurer delivers a personalised Chinese New Year message and a feature about his ambition to be prime minister.
Guardian Australia understands the ads are funded by the Liberal party and were intended to be posted to WeChat in addition to AFN, although Frydenberg does not have an account on the platform.
In January it was revealed Scott Morrison had lost control of his WeChat account, prompting accusations of foreign interference, despite WeChat’s owner, Chinese tech giant Tencent, insisting there was no evidence of any hacking or third-party intrusion.
The Liberal MP James Paterson, who is chair of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, and independent researcher Alex Joske had urged politicians to ditch the platform in response.
“I am calling on all Australian politicians to voluntarily boycott WeChat,” Paterson told the Daily Telegraph, in an editorial complaining that Albanese is still sharing updates with his WeChat followers.
“We cannot allow a foreign authoritarian government to interfere in our democracy and set the terms of public debate in Australia.”
Chinese-Australian Liberal MP Gladys Liu said she would be supporting the boycott because of “serious concerns of political interference”.
On 1 February AFN, a Chinese-language business daily published in Sydney, posted a Chinese New Year greeting from Frydenberg, which concluded with a banner ad authorised by the treasurer.
On 16 February, AFN posted a feature drawing information about Frydenberg from multiple sources, including the treasurer’s frank admission on ABC Radio that he had “made no secret” he would put his hand up for the leadership at the right time.
The article ended with a Chinese-language version of an attack ad against Albanese, claiming he has supported taxes on carbon emissions, mining, congestion, superannuation, income, housing, retirees, family businesses and inheritance.
A spokesperson for Frydenberg said: “The treasurer does not have an active WeChat account.”
“These are banner advertisements with the Australian Financial News which demonstrate Anthony Albanese’s record of supporting higher taxes on Australians,” he told Guardian Australia. “There is no payment for articles.”
Guardian Australia contacted AFN for comment.
On 11 February, the defence minister, Peter Dutton, cited “writing within some of the Chinese newspapers in Australia” as an example of Chinese influence on the Labor party – part of the Morrison government’s campaign to claim Labor is soft on national security.
At Senate estimates on 14 February, the home affairs department secretary, Michael Pezzullo, said the takeover of Morrison’s WeChat account “appeared to be a terms and conditions matter”.
“I couldn’t rule out [foreign interference] completely,” he said.
“Sometimes things can be manipulated in a way that is opaque and nefarious. It would be ill advised to rule it out.”
Pezzullo said the department doesn’t give advice to MPs and senators about whether they should use particular platforms, explaining it’s a matter of “free political communication” for them to decide.
