China Jiangxi Network / Jiangxi Toutiao Client News Reporter Shen Guannan reported: On June 19, Jiangxi Toutiao client posted a post concerning that nearly 300,000 yuan of funds in Ms. Wang's WeChat account in Fujian province was frozen by Tencent on the grounds of suspected illegal transactions, although the subsequent unblocking of the account due to media intervention, the matter still caused a huge discussion in the Internet and legal circles. After the report was published, the number of articles read quickly soared to more than 700,000, and netizens left more than 14,000 messages. The reporter combed the netizen messages and learned that most netizens believe that Tencent does have ownership of the WeChat account, but this does not mean that it owns the funds in the account and cannot dispose of user funds at will. In addition, the poor channels for appeals have also become a hot topic of discussion.
This network reported 14,000 comments
Discussion 1: Tencent has ownership of the account, but does not have the right to freeze funds
@Lanlan 170101435: Tencent has no problem owning the account, but Tencent does not own the money in the account. Users can take out at any time, if Tencent believes that it is illegal, you can close the account, you can restrict payment, but you cannot restrict the user from withdrawing the money in the account, otherwise it is an infringement of personal property ownership. @Funeral Love DJ Doraemon: The correct way should display WeChat's original security funds separately from the doubtful funds, and limit the payment function depending on the situation. @There is a Chinese: Where is the power in the background to think that the transaction is abnormal? Freezing transactions is only the power of both parties to the transaction and the police! Under what laws does Tencent freeze it?
@Back Dreamer: WeChat is Tencent's, then you take it back, and the money is back. Frozen for so long, you have to come up with an enforcement judgment.
Discussion 2: Does the "account ownership" argument hold?
@casio19611: What is ownership? Is Tencent right to say that it has ownership of an account? If the account ownership belongs to Tencent, then once the account leaks personal privacy, is Tencent illegal? For example, Tencent discloses the amount of personal account? Account phone number? Individual information leaks? Do I need to pay legal liability? If it is illegal, is it not okay to disclose the account you own? If it is not illegal, then the leakage of personal privacy under national law is contradictory.
Discussion Three: Tell a similar story
@Fish for seven seconds I'm going to have three seconds: My neighbor's more than 3,000 yuan has been frozen like this, more than a year. @Manman Life MZ: How many people's WeChat dead account money let WeChat swallow? My parents' previous WeChat signal said that there is no more, although there is not much money, only a few pieces, but this is also money. @ Wei Xiaomo: WeChat will really be randomly sealed, before I got married, my classmates and friends transferred many WeChat red envelopes to me, and then I received them all, after receiving it, my account was frozen, it was not sealed when my friends transferred red packets, but only after I collected them all, I made several phone calls, and I unblocked it.
Screenshot of netizen comments
Discussion 4: Complaining about "poor appeal channels"
@ Min Duyun: WeChat, you look for customer service, ignore you. @ Fire on fire: (WeChat customer service) are all robots, answers are not asked, and manual people can't find it at all. @ Super Tramp: Alipay artificial customer service is a dozen, WeChat artificial customer service you can look down.
Discussion Five: Ridicule the matter
@ Foreign Country Miscellaneous: Internet companies (not specifically, and most companies): Your account is in violation, you need to freeze, ban! User: How did I break the rules? Internet Company: You broke the law! User: How did it break? Internet Company: You broke the law! @xl1612: The landlord said: I suspect that you are doing something illegal in my house, so I locked the door, and you don't want to take the contents inside.
Latest Developments:
Tencent responded: apologizing and saying "the money belongs to the user"
According to local media reports in Fujian, on June 20, Tencent replied to the matter. Jiangxi Toutiao client reporter saw in this reply, Tencent said: "Since weChat Pay risk control monitored the user's transaction behavior, in line with the characteristics of some suspected violations, in order to ensure the safety of the platform user's funds, we took temporary risk control measures to restrict transactions on the user's account in accordance with the provisions of the "Measures for the Administration of Online Payment Business of Non-bank Payment Institutions" and the provisions of the user service agreement, and prompted the user to submit relevant certification materials." During this period, the user provided materials several times, but failed to fully prove the compliance of the use of their funds, we communicated with the user many times, the user finally provided a complete material, we submitted all the information and related information submitted by the user after a comprehensive assessment, on June 17 at 10:00 a.m., lifted the transaction restrictions. In the reply, Tencent apologized for the inconvenience caused by restricting transactions. In addition, Tencent said that according to relevant regulations, the essence of the funds recorded in the user's payment account is entrusted by the user to WeChat Pay, and the ownership of the funds belongs to the user.
Reporter's Note: Risk prevention and control does not mean "one letter"
It is true that according to the relevant regulations and the anti-money laundering obligations of payment companies, Tencent can take relevant measures against accounts suspected of illegal transactions, but we have also noted that the Measures for the Administration of Online Payment Business of Non-bank Payment Institutions stipulate that online payments can take measures such as investigation and verification, delay settlement, and termination of services when online payments are suspected of fraud, cash-out, money laundering, illegal financing, terrorist financing and other transactions. So, does the above measure mean that Tencent can directly have the authority to "freeze funds"? As we all know, because it involves the safety of personal property, only specific government departments have the authority to inquire and freeze funds, and the law does not grant this authority to third-party mobile payment institutions. Who will verify? At present, in Tencent's reply, we see that Tencent requires users to provide complete materials to "self-prove" compliance, and complaints about incomplete materials will be "called back". As a payment company, after taking temporary risk control measures, did Tencent report the risk information to the relevant departments for verification and evidence collection? Is there such a procedure? We don't know. In addition, after tencent adopted temporary risk control measures, did it configure a timely and effective appeal system? Judging from the feedback of the majority of users, it is difficult to protect rights, and the appeal channels are not smooth. Risk prevention and control does not mean "one letter", follow-up work should strengthen the norms, in the face of the public's questioning voices, as a domestic mobile payment "giant", Tencent is time to think more and act!