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Mobile messaging

Mobile messaging

From China’s most popular smartphone messaging app WeChat to Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, these services are changing the way people communicate with each other around the world.

last updated:

9 September, 2024

Women look at their phones near a display of planets from the solar system in Beijing on November 19. Photo: AP

China technology

How will new SMS partnership add to BeiDou’s Chinese user base?

China Telecom working with phone manufacturers to enable its 423 million mobile users to connect via satellites.

4 Dec 2024 - 5:30PM

TON blockchain on Telegram teams with HashKey to help Asian users trade crypto

12 Apr 2024 - 11:00PM

Editorial | Hong Kong hashtag fight against scams needs support

28 Dec 2023 - 6:30AM

Crime in Hong Kong

Text messages by 23 Hong Kong mobile service providers to carry ‘#’ prefix

Office of the Communications Authority says first round of networks will be able to register numbers with watchdog and get hashtag to verify sender identities.

20 Dec 2023 - 10:53PM

Those taking part in the scheme will have a four-month transition period to identify and fix any technical issues. Photo: Shutterstock

Crime in Hong Kong

Data of 900 Hongkongers exposed in hack attack of WhatsApp accounts

Hackers hit five social services and schools, compromising details, including names and mobile phone numbers of users, parents and pupils.

5 Oct 2023 - 8:22PM

Crime in Hong Kong

Fresh crackdown on mobile phone fraudsters targeting Hong Kong announced

Anti-fraud voice and message alerts to warn call recipients about potential scams to be added to all numbers prefixed with ‘+852’.

11 Apr 2023 - 11:19PM

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Your mobile phone is killing me

5 Dec 2022 - 8:00AM

South Korea’s KakaoTalk outage a ‘wake-up call’ to regulate online services

After a data centre fire caused an hours-long shutdown of nearly all online services by Kakao Corp, including KakaoTalk that is used by 53 million people worldwide, President Yoon Suk-yeol has hinted at introducing regulations for such online platforms.

17 Oct 2022 - 6:20PM

Singaporeans must be wary of rising foreign influence efforts, PM Lee warns

Singaporeans need to guard against influence operations regardless of their source to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and independence, PM Lee Hsien Loong says.

22 Aug 2022 - 10:57AM

China Mobile ends iMessage-like service after missing WeChat revolution

China Mobile announced that it would stop providing service for Feixin by the end of September, ending a once-dominant SMS alternative that quickly lost ground to Tencent’s WeChat.

25 Jul 2022 - 5:30PMvideocam

A sign of China Mobile seen on a street in Shanghai on January 4, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Scams and swindles

Hongkongers lost billions to phone, online scams in first 4 months of year

Nearly one-fourth of money victims lost was swindled through email fraud, while phone scammers pocketed HK$280 million.

18 Jun 2022 - 7:48PM

Fraudsters swindled HK$1.28 billion from more than 6,000 Hongkongers through online and phone scams in the first 4 months of the year. Photo: SCMP

WeChat uses pop-up alert to contest rumours about blocking Shanghai lockdown posts

Sharing screenshots of posts making the accusation that the app is separating Shanghai users will now prompt a pop-up notification from WeChat dismissing the claims.

31 May 2022 - 1:18PM

BlackBerry mobile phone devices become obsolete

BlackBerry once had widespread commercial success but now reaches the end of its life and the end of an era as company pulls the plug.

5 Jan 2022 - 12:38AM

Aung San Suu Kyi

Opinion | Dangerous data: Telenor’s Myanmar exit may put customers’ lives at risk

Data of 18 million people, including call-data records, part of sale five months after military coup; means possibility of detention, torture, murder.

9 Dec 2021 - 10:00AMvideocam

The daughter of a protester who died in March 2021 during a demonstration against Myanmar’s military coup, cries during her father’s funeral. There is concern that the sale of the Myanmar branch of Norway telecoms firm Telenor could lead to potentially dangerous call data relating to millions of people being seen by the junta. Photo: AFP

China’s mobile carriers to launch new 5G messaging service

China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom are expected to roll out their new 5G messaging service, with electronic payment function, this month.

5 Oct 2021 - 8:00AMvideocam

Attendees use their smartphones near China Mobile’s booth at the China International Information and Communication Exhibition, an annual event known as PT Expo China, in Beijing on September 28, 2021. Photo: AP

Ireland fines WhatsApp US$267 million for breaching EU privacy laws

The fine on Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging service is the largest penalty issued to a company by the Irish data protection commission.

2 Sep 2021 - 10:31PM

Censorship in China

China declares war on ‘fake news’ in blow to social media

The new internet content crackdown targets “illegal news activities”, putting pressure on social media platforms to weed out unregulated content creators.

5 Aug 2021 - 10:10PMvideocam

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As divide grows between Modi and tech firms, is India ‘going the China way’?

The government is seeking tighter control of digital media amid a wave of discontent over India’s Covid-19 pandemic response and other policies.

4 Jun 2021 - 4:33PMvideocam

BJP supporters wear a mask of PM Narendra Modi at a rally in Hyderabad. File photo: AFP

Encrypted messenger Signal is banned in China, joining WhatsApp and Telegram

Before it was blocked, Signal stood as the last major foreign messaging app that was still accessible in mainland China without a virtual private network connection.

16 Mar 2021 - 8:30PMvideocam

Xiaomi messaging app gets audio-focused makeover after Clubhouse ban

Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi overhauled its defunct messaging app MiTalk and turned it into an invite-only audio chat platform for professionals, vying with other similar apps to fill the void left by Clubhouse’s ban in the country.

2 Mar 2021 - 7:00AMvideocam

Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

Letters | Learn from Singapore to ease privacy concerns over Covid app

The Singapore government set clear boundaries over the use of TraceTogether data, and the app itself does not collect GPS or mobile network information. Signal also offers a lesson in openness, which Hong Kong should take to hear.

21 Feb 2021 - 7:00AM

A diner scans the required QR code using Hong Kong’s Leave Home Safe app before entering a restaurant in Wan Chai on February 18. Photo: Sam Tsang

Hong Kong privacy watchdog urges WhatsApp to pump brakes on policy changes

WhatsApp has informed its more than 2 billion users that they will need to agree to a new policy allowing it to share data with its parent company, Facebook.

12 Jan 2021 - 12:40AMvideocam

WhatsApp has notified its users that they have until February 8 to agree to new privacy terms. Photo: Shutterstock

Tencent hires former US congressman and national security hawk as lobbyist

The Chinese tech company owns WeChat, which is facing a possible ban in the US.

9 Sep 2020 - 10:41PMvideocam

US-China tech war

TikTok, WeChat targeted for US ban with Trump’s latest executive orders

Unspecified ‘transactions’ with Chinese owners of the popular video and messaging services to be barred within 45 days.

8 Aug 2020 - 12:03AMvideocam

Racism and other prejudice

Chinese-Australians hunt white men who hit Asian delivery rider

The incident in Adelaide’s Chinatown is among a growing trend of racist attacks against Asian-Australians.

14 Jul 2020 - 6:25PMvideocam

Two white men punched an Asian delivery rider on July 4, in Adelaide, Australia. Photo: Facebook

Hong Kong national security law

Facebook to suspend user information requests from Hong Kong government

The pause will take place ‘pending further assessment’ of a new national security law, Facebook says.

7 Jul 2020 - 1:34AMvideocam

The new law aims to stop and punish acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. Photo: AP

Facebook’s ads business hit by Covid-19 pandemic despite surge in usage

Many of Facebook’s products, including Messenger and WhatsApp, have seen a spike in traffic as people stay home in regions hit hardest by the virus, but its ads business is still suffering.

25 Mar 2020 - 9:36AM

How Telegram became a refuge for WeChat users during the coronavirus outbreak

Telegram features like channel broadcasts and optional chat encryption have helped some people stay up to date amid heavy censorship on Tencent’s WeChat

18 Mar 2020 - 6:40PM

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