News report: Australian leader’s WeChat account taken over
By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A newspaper has reported Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s account on Chinese-owned social media platform WeChat has been taken over and renamed. Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Morrison’s 76,000 WeChat followers were notified his page has been renamed “Australian Chinese new life” earlier this month. The change was made without the government’s knowledge. Morrison’s office declined to comment on the report on Monday. Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security Chair James Paterson accused the Chinese Communist Party of censoring the prime minister with elections due by May. Paterson is a member of Morrison’s conservative Liberal Party. Paterson called on all lawmakers to boycott the platform.