Last Updated: 2023-06-01
If you are a user located in Australia, Brazil, California, Canada, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau SAR, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom or Vietnam, the terms set out below under the name of your jurisdiction apply to you in addition to the terms set out in our Privacy Policy.
We have provided translations of the Privacy Policy, but in the event of any conflict between the local language version and the English version, unless otherwise prescribed by applicable law, the English version shall prevail.
This section applies to users located in Australia:
Overseas Recipients
We take reasonable steps to ensure that third party recipients of your Personal Information located outside Australia handle your Personal Information in a manner that is consistent with Australian privacy laws. However, you acknowledge that we do not control, or accept liability for, the acts and omissions of these third party recipients.
Access
You have the right to access Personal Information we hold about you, how we use it, and who we share it with. You can access the Personal Information you have made available as part of your account by logging into your account. If you believe we hold any other Personal Information about you, please contact us at dataprotection@wechat.com.
Correction
You have the right to correct any of your Personal Information we hold that is inaccurate. You can access the Personal Information we hold about you by logging into your WeChat account. If you believe we hold any other Personal Information about you and that information is inaccurate, please contact us at dataprotection@wechat.com.
Children
If you are under the age of 18, you undertake that you have the consent of your parent or legal guardian to register an account on and use WeChat.
Your rights
If you are dissatisfied with our response to your request for access to, or correction of, your Personal Information or your privacy complaint in respect of your Personal Information, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (Telephone +61 1300 363 992 or email enquiries@oaic.gov.au).
This section applies to users located in Brazil:
Consent Revocation
Whenever we use your Personal Information based on your consent, you may revoke consent that you have previously given for the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information, subject to contractual or legal limitations. To revoke such consent, you may terminate your WeChat account or you can contact dataprotection@wechat.com. This may affect our provision of WeChat to you.
Parental and Guardian Consent
If you are under the age of 18, you should not use WeChat for any purpose without first obtaining parental/guardian agreement to the Privacy Policy (both for themselves and on your behalf). We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from any children under the age of 18 without such consent. Please contact our Data Protection Officer if you believe we have any Personal Information from any children under the age of 18 without such parental/guardian consent – we will promptly investigate (and remove) such Personal Information.
This section applies to California residents covered by the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 ("CCPA").
The CCPA provides California residents with certain legal rights such as access, deletion, disclosure, or "do not sell." These rights are not absolute and are subject to certain exceptions.
Collection and Disclosure of Personal Information
Over the past 12 months, through your use of WeChat, we may have collected and disclosed the following categories of Personal Information from or about consumers, as defined in the CCPA:
We collect Personal Information for the following purposes:
For additional information about what each type of Personal Information is used for, see the main portion of the Privacy Policy.
We may disclose each of the categories of Personal Information identified in the Privacy Policy to the following types of entities:
In the past 12 months, we have not sold personal information of California residents within the meaning of "sold" in the CCPA.
Rights under the CCPA
If you are a California resident and the CCPA does not recognize an exemption that applies to you or your Personal Information, you have the right to:
We aim to fulfill all verified requests within 45 days pursuant to the CCPA. If necessary, extensions for an additional 45 days will be accompanied by an explanation for the delay.
Please note that in order to protect your information, we will need to verify your identity before responding to any request to exercise your rights. In some cases we may need to collect additional information to verify your identity, such as a government issued ID.
How to Exercise Your Rights
First, you may wish to log into your account and manage your data from there. If you are a California resident to whom the CCPA applies, you may exercise your rights, if any, to other data by contacting us at dataprotection@wechat.com.
Under the CCPA, you may exercise these rights yourself or you may designate an authorized agent to make these requests on your behalf by contacting us at dataprotection@wechat.com. For requests by an authorized agent, we may require you to directly verify your identity with us, and confirm with us that you provided the authorized agent permission to submit the request.
By clicking "accept", you consent to the cross-border transfer of your information to any country where we have databases or affiliates.
Our designated data protection officer can be contacted at dataprotection@wechat.com.
Your Rights
Consent Revocation
You may revoke consent that you have previously given for the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information, subject to contractual or legal limitations. To revoke such consent, you may terminate your WeChat account or you can contact dataprotection@wechat.com. This may affect our provision of WeChat to you.
Access
You have the right to access Personal Information we hold about you, to be provided with an account of how we use it, and to whom we disclose it. You can access your Personal Information by logging into your account or making a request in writing to dataprotection@wechat.com. We may require further information to verify your identity, which information will only be used for that purpose.
Correction
You have the right to correct any of your Personal Information we hold that is inaccurate. You can access your Personal Information by logging into your WeChat account. If you believe we hold any other Personal Information about you and that information is inaccurate, please contact us at dataprotection@wechat.com.
If you choose not to provide your Personal Information, you may not be able to use WeChat properly.
As a Hong Kong SAR data subject you have legal rights in relation to the Personal Information we hold about you (to the extent permitted under applicable laws and regulations).
You are entitled to make a subject access request (to receive a copy of the data we process about you). You can also exercise your right to data correction as well as your right to stop to the use of your personal data for direct marketing purposes. A fee may be chargeable by us for complying with a data access request.
Sensitive Personal Information
"Sensitive Personal Information" means passwords, financial information (such as bank account or credit card or debit card or other payment instrument details), biometric data, data relating to physical or mental health, sex life or sexual orientation, and/or medical records or history, and similar information, but does not include information available in the public domain, or provided under Indian laws, including the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Sharing Of Your Sensitive Personal Information
In the circumstances enumerated in the Privacy Policy, where we permit any third parties to collect and use your Sensitive Personal Information, we shall (i) ensure that such third parties maintain the same security standards that are adhered to by us for the protection of your Sensitive Personal Information and (ii) take reasonable measures to ensure that the third parties do not further disclose the Sensitive Personal Information.
Correction of Your Personal Information & Withdrawal Of Consent
If you believe we hold any other Personal Information about you or your children, and that information is inaccurate, or you have queries regarding the processing, transfer or end-use of your Personal Information, please contact us at dataprotection@wechat.com.
You do not have the right to retrospectively retract consent or request for deletion of records required for statutory purposes but can withdraw consent to any further processing of your or your children's Personal Information.
Security Measures of Your Personal Information
In accordance with applicable data privacy laws and regulations in India, we shall take appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures to prevent the loss of, damage to or unauthorised access to or processing of your Sensitive Personal Information.
Age Restrictions
Parental consent is required for children under the age of 18 years who wish to use our services. Where the users are children, their parents understand and acknowledge that our collection, storage and processing of Personal Information shared with us, shall be used for the lawful purposes set out in the Privacy Policy and is considered necessary for us to provide the services.
Consent
By accepting and consenting to the Privacy Policy, you agree that we may collect, use and share your Personal Information in accordance with the Privacy Policy, as revised from time to time. If you do not agree to the Privacy Policy, you must not access or use our services and we have the right not to provide you with access to WeChat.
Accuracy of Information
You are responsible for ensuring that any Personal Information which you provide to us is accurate and up-to-date. In order to confirm the accuracy of the information, we may also verify the information you provided to us, at any time.
Parental and Guardian Consent
If you are under the age of 21, you undertake that you have the consent of your parent or legal guardian to register an account on and use WeChat.
Data Subject Rights
You have the right to access, update, correct and request erasure of Personal Information stored on WeChat from time to time in accordance with applicable data privacy laws and regulations in Indonesia.
Data Breach
In the event we fail to maintain the confidentiality of your Personal Information, we will notify you through the contact information provided by you or via WeChat, to the extent required by local laws and regulations.
Data Retention
We will retain your personal information in line with legal requirements.
Notification to Amendment of the Privacy Policy
In the event we amend this policy, we will post the updated Privacy Policy at this link and notify you via WeChat or other means before the change becomes effective.
Data Accuracy and Third Party Consent
You are responsible for making sure that any personal details which you provide to us are accurate and current. In order to confirm the accuracy of the information, we may also verify the information provided to us, at any time. You hereby represent that you have secured all necessary consent(s) before providing us with any other person's Personal Information (for example, for referral promotions, if applicable), in which case we will always assume that you have already obtained prior consent, and as such, you will be responsible for any claims whatsoever from any party arising as a result of the absence of such consent(s).
Consent
By clicking "accept", you consent to the cross-border transfer of your information to any country where we have databases or affiliates or where our service providers are located.
Your Rights
You may request that we notify you about the purposes of use of, the disclosure of, any correction to, the discontinuation of the use of or provision of, and/or the deletion of any and all of your Personal Information which is stored by us, to the extent provided for by the Act on the Protection of Personal Information of Japan. If you wish to make such a request, please contact us at dataprotection@wechat.com.
You consent to the collection, use, disclosure, export and storage of your Personal Information as described in the Privacy Policy.
You have the right not to provide your Personal Information. However, as a result, we may not be able to provide WeChat to you. As a Macau SAR data subject you have legal rights in relation to your Personal Information (to the extent permitted under applicable laws and regulations). You are entitled to make a subject access request to request a copy of the data we process about you, to make a data correction request, and have the right to oppose the use of your Personal Information for marketing or any other form of commercial prospecting, or on any grounds of personal nature. A fee may be chargeable by us for complying with a data access request.
Parental and Guardian Consent
In the event you are agreeing to the Privacy Policy in order for a minor (a person under the age of 18) to access and use WeChat, you hereby consent to the provision of Personal Information of the minor to be processed in accordance with the Privacy Policy and you personally accept and agree to be bound by the terms in the Privacy Policy. Further, you hereby agree to take responsibility for the actions of such minor, and that minor's compliance with the Privacy Policy.
How We Store and Share Your Personal Information
In relation to users in Malaysia, our servers are located in Singapore and Hong Kong SAR and you consent to the transfer of your data outside of your country.
Rights of Data Subjects
Right of access: You have the right to request access to and obtain a copy of the Personal Information that we have collected and is being processed by or on behalf of us. We reserve the right to impose a fee for providing access to your Personal Information in the amounts permitted by law.
When handling a data access request, we are permitted to request certain information in order to verify the identity of the requester to ensure that he/she is the person legally entitled to make the data access request.
We will comply with data access requests within the time periods as stipulated under Malaysian data protection laws.
Right of correction: You may request for the correction of your Personal Information. When handling a data correction request, we are permitted to request certain information in order to verify the identity of the requester to ensure that he/she is the person legally entitled to make the data correction request.
Right to limit processing of your Personal Information: You may request limiting the processing of your Personal Information by using the contact details provided in the Privacy Policy. However this may affect our provision of WeChat to you.
Contact
To protect your Personal Information and handle complaints relating to your Personal Information, we have appointed a data protection officer, responsible for the management and safety of your Personal Information, who can be contacted at dataprotection@wechat.com.
Purposes of processing
Certain of the purposes for processing stated in the Privacy Policy are voluntary, including:
Data transfer consent
We require your consent to carry out the following transfers of data, which are detailed in the section "Who Do We Share Your Data With" in the Privacy Policy:
By using WeChat and providing us with your personal data, you agree to the data transfers detailed above that require your consent.
Age restrictions
You won't be able to use WeChat unless you are 18 years old or you have obtained parental/guardian agreement to the Privacy Policy (both for themselves and on your behalf).
Your rights
The sub-sections entitled "Access & Correction", "Erasure", "Objection", "Restriction of Processing to Storage Only", which includes the limitation to the use and disclosure of your personal data included in the section "Your Rights" in the Privacy Policy also apply to users that are located in Mexico.
You also have the right to revoke the consent that you have provided us to process your personal data.
To exercise any of your rights, contact us at dataprotection@wechat.com.
To know more about your rights, as well as the applicable means, procedures and requirements to exercise any of your rights, please contact us at dataprotection@wechat.com.
Minimum Age
You must be at least 18 years of age to be able to use WeChat.
Your Rights
You are entitled to the following rights:
Consent
By consenting to this Privacy Policy, you consent to us:
If you are using WeChat from Russia:
You confirm that you are at least 18 years old.
You consent (for the purposes of the Russian Federal Law No. 152-FZ dated 27 July 2006 "On Personal Data" (as amended) or any replacement regulations) to the processing in accordance herewith of your information. In particular, if legitimate interests, optimisation of the service, carrying out of the contract or any other purposes are mentioned herein, you agree that, for the purposes of Russian law, the consent so provided can be considered an additional ground for processing (meaning that the processing is conducted with your consent). You also consent to the cross-border transfer of your information to any country where we have databases or affiliates or where our service providers are located and, in particular Singapore and Hong Kong SAR.
We will not implement any material changes hereto, unless we have notified you.
You can contact us at dataprotection@wechat.com. Please include the word "Russia" in the subject line of your email.
Our designated local representative in Serbia is Karanovic & Partners for the purposes of compliance with the Law on Personal Data Protection, and can be contacted at local.representative@karanovicpartners.com. Please include the word "Serbia" in the subject line of your email.
By clicking "accept", you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information, for the purposes set out in the section "How do we use your information" in the Privacy Policy, and which we will process as an "organisation" as defined under the Personal Data Protection Act 2012.
Our designated data protection officer for the purposes of compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 can be contacted at dataprotection@wechat.com.
Access
You have the right to access your Personal Information, how we use it, and who we share it with. You can access the Personal Information you have made available as part of your account by logging into your account. If you believe we hold any other Personal Information about you, please contact us at dataprotection@wechat.com.
Correction
You have the right to correct any of your Personal Information that is inaccurate. You can access the Personal Information we hold about you by logging into your account. If you believe we hold any other Personal Information about you and that information is inaccurate, please contact dataprotection@wechat.com.
Children under the age of 14 must not use WeChat for any purpose without first obtaining parental/guardian consent to the Privacy Policy (both for the parent/guardian themself and on their child's behalf). We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from any children under the age of 14 without such consent. Please contact our Data Protection Officer if you believe we have any Personal Information from any children under the age of 14 without such parental/guardian consent – we will promptly investigate (and remove) such Personal Information.
The Personal Information (including your personal location information) we provide to third parties located outside of Korea for the WeChat service is as follows:
| Identity of the recipient and contact information of Chief Privacy Officer | Location (and jurisdiction) of the recipient (or as otherwise stated in the recipient's privacy policy) | Purposes of use of Personal Information by the recipient | Items of Personal Information to be provided | Date and method of transfer | Period of retention and use of Personal Information by the recipient |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operators of third party services that allow log in via WeChat Please refer to the privacy policy of the relevant third party service for contact information. | Where the servers of the third party services are located | Access to third party services in accordance with your request | User alias Profile photo Gender Region | Transmitted from time to time | Retained for such time as stated in the privacy policy of the relevant third party service. |
| Adyen N.V. dpo@adyen.com | The Netherlands | Verifying payment card information in relation to parental/guardian consent | Payment card information | Transmitted from time to time | Retained for such time as stated in the privacy policy of the relevant third party service. |
| Google Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. http://policies.google.com/privacy | USA | Translation service | Text to be translated | Transmitted from time to time | Retained for such time as stated in the privacy policy of the relevant third party service. |
| Microsoft Operations Pte Ltd. https://privacy.microsoft.com | USA | Translation service | Text to be translated | Transmitted from time to time | Retained for such time as stated in the privacy policy of the relevant third party service. |
| Meta Platforms, Inc. https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/ | USA | Sharing of Your Moments posts in accordance with your request | Your Moments post to be shared | Transmitted from time to time | Retained for such time as stated in the privacy policy of the relevant third party service. |
| PTW (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. dataprivacy@ptw.com | Singapore and Malaysia | Customer support services | Information as may be necessary to handle your customer support queries | Transmitted from time to time | Retained for such time as stated in the privacy policy of the relevant third party service. |
The mandatory retention periods for Personal Information required by law in Korea is as follows:
| Items | Relevant Statute | Retention Period |
|---|---|---|
| Records related to entering into and withdrawing from a contract | Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce | 5 years |
| Records related to payment and other supplies of money | Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce | 5 years |
| Records related to consumer complaints and dispute settlement | Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce | 3 years |
| Records related to labelling | Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce | 6 months |
| Service visit logs | Protection of Communications Secrets Act | 3 months |
| Telecommunication logs | Protection of Communications Secrets Act | 12 months |
Destruction of Personal Information
We destroy Personal Information upon the extinguishment of need for such Personal Information, such as the expiration of its retention period and achievement of its purpose for processing, except where there is a law or regulation that requires us to retain that Personal Information. Inactive accounts are automatically deleted after 180 days (except if you have a positive balance in your WeChat Pay or Weixin Pay account or are the administrator of an Official Account or Mini Program).
The destruction procedure of Personal Information (including your personal location information) is as follows:
Domestic Privacy Representative
Pursuant to the Article 32-5 of Act on the Promotion of the Use of the Information Network and Information Protection, the information regarding the domestic agent is as follows:
Personal Location Information
Purposes for which your personal location information is processed: To provide location information-based services as described in our Terms and Conditions of Location-Based Service.
Period for retaining your personal location information: Retained for the minimum period necessary to provide you with location-based services.
Grounds for retaining the data verifying the collection, use and provision of location information and period of retaining the data: In accordance with Article 16(2) of the Act on the Protection and Use of Location Information ("Location Information Act"), we will automatically record data verifying the collection, use, and provision of location information in a location information system, and preserve the data for 6 months or longer.
Notification under the Article 19(3) of the Location Information Act: After you share your personal location information with a third party, we may be required to notify you of the relevant details (i.e. who will get the information, as well as the date, time and purpose of the sharing) via WeChat or other permitted methods.
Rights of the legal guardian of a child and methods for exercising those rights under the Article 26(1) of the Location Information Act: Where the legal guardian of any of the following persons (hereinafter referred to as "Child"):
gives consent to the use or provision of personal location information regarding the child, for the protection of the child's health or safety, we shall deem that the child has consented to such use or provision.
For the protection of the health or safety of the child, the legal guardian who intends to consent to the use or provision of personal location information of the child must submit a written consent to us at dataprotection@wechat.com along with a document proving that he/she is the legal guardian.
The legal guardian can exercise all of the rights of the subject of personal location information if he/she agrees to the use or provision of personal location information for a child.
Contact Information of Location Information Officer:
By clicking "accept", you consent to the terms and conditions of the Privacy Policy and permit the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information. However, if you are under the age of 18, you undertake that you have the consent of your parent or legal guardian to register an account on and use WeChat.
Where you request to withdraw consent or, refrain from further processing of data or, erase or, rectify or, complete your Personal Information, we will provide you with our response to the request within 21 working days.
We do not knowingly collect or solicit Personal Information from anyone under the age of 7 or knowingly allow such persons to register with WeChat. If you are under 7, please do not attempt to use or register for WeChat or send any Personal Information about yourself to us. No one under the age of 7 may provide any Personal Information to us while using WeChat. In the case of users located in Taiwan, persons under the age of 20 are required to obtain parental/guardian consent prior to using WeChat.
You may exercise the following rights as set forth in Article 3 of the Personal Data Protection Act: (1) access your Personal Information to check and review it; (2) have a copy of your Personal Information; (3) supplement or correct your Personal Information; (4) demand that we cease the collection, processing, or use of your Personal Information; and (5) demand that we delete your Personal Information. To the extent permitted by law, there may be limitations on our ability to comply with your request.
By clicking "accept", you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the Privacy Policy, you must not use WeChat.
If you are under the age of 20, you undertake that you have obtained your parent or legal guardian's consent to register an account on and use WeChat.
To the extent provided for by the Thai Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), you may:
Where you wish to make such requests, please contact us at dataprotection@wechat.com.
The contact details of our designated local representative in Thailand for the purposes of compliance with the PDPA is below and can be contacted via email. Please include the word “Thailand” in the subject line of your email.
Our Data Controller Representative in Türkiye is Özdağıstanli Ekici Avukatlık Ortaklığı for the purpose of compliance with Turkish Law on Personal Data Protection Law ("DPL") and its secondary regulations, and can be contacted at tencent@iptech-legal.com. Please include the word "Türkiye" in the subject line of your email.
You have legal rights, which are specified set forth Article 11 of the DPL, in relation to the personal information data we hold about you. As a Turkish data subject, you may have right to apply to the data controller and (and to the extent permitted under applicable laws and regulations):
You consent to the collection, use, disclosure, export and storage of your Personal Information as described in the Privacy Policy.
We may voluntarily report a cyber-security incident where it constitutes a crime under UAE law (e.g. under the UAE Cybercrime Law). The incident can be reported to the relevant authorities for the purpose of investigations. Please note also that voluntary reporting of a cyber-security incident can also be made to the UAE Computer Emergency Response Team ("CERT"). CERT is a security awareness organisation that provides a process for logging incidents and advising on known cyber security threats in the UAE.
Children
In the case of users located in the United Arab Emirates, the minimum age to be able to legally agree to commercial transactions is 21 (under the Hijri calendar). However, a minor, who is between the ages of 18 and 21 may obtain a court order giving him/her permission to engage in specific commercial transactions. In addition, a minor who is above the age of 7 years old may engage in commercial transactions subject to their guardian's approval.
Our local representative in the United Kingdom is Image Frame Investment (UK) Limited, with its registered address at Suite 1, 3rd Floor 11 - 12 St. James's Square, London, United Kingdom, SW1Y 4LB. You can contact our local representative in the United Kingdom at dataprotection@wechat.com. Please include the word “United Kingdom” in the subject line of your email.
By accepting the Privacy Policy, you expressly agree and authorize us to collect, use, store, and process your Personal Information, including, lawfully disclosing and transferring it to third parties, as described in the Privacy Policy.
We maintain international standards and security practices for data protection. When your Personal Information is transferred within or outside your jurisdiction of residence, it will be subject to the same or higher levels of security practices and data protection by the recipient entity as adhered to by us.
Where we permit any third parties to collect and use your Personal Information, we shall take reasonable measures to ensure that the third parties do not further disclose the Personal Information.
Your Personal Information, if required to be disclosed to the competent law enforcement agencies, public authorities or other judicial bodies and organisations, will be disclosed upon receipt of written request from such organisations.
Where required by the law and regulatory requirements of your jurisdiction from time to time, we may retain all or part of your Personal Information for a period longer than described in the Privacy Policy.
You have the right to access, correct, and erase the Personal Information we hold about you. You also have the right to withdraw your consent to collect, store, process, use and disclose your Personal Information and to request us to stop processing or providing your Personal Information to a third party.
