Steps to Protect Your Privacy

In order to provide you with the best understanding of how WeChat is designed with your privacy in mind and to better understand your rights regarding your data, WeChat requires that you first review the following important information, consent to the latest version of our WeChat Privacy Policy, and provide additional required info about yourself.

Next steps in this process:

  1. Privacy Protection Summary
  2. Review WeChat's revised Privacy Policy
  3. Verify your birthdate

WeChat Privacy Protection Summary

Thank you for using our products and services! We respect your concerns about privacy and appreciate your trust and confidence in us.

Here is a summary of the information contained in this privacy policy. This summary is to help you navigate the privacy policy and it is not a substitute for reading everything! You can use the hyperlinks below to jump directly to particular sections.

What information do you need to provide WeChat?

If you register an account to use WeChat then we will need some information from you to set this up (e.g., to set up a profile and validate your phone number). To set up your account, we will need a nickname, your mobile number, and a password. You can further refine and populate your profile with additional information. If you use the services available within WeChat (such as posting photos to your Moments and Time Capsule or following Official Accounts), we will process information to allow the services to operate. More...

How do we use your information?

We use your information to provide WeChat to you, allow you to communicate with other users, and to use the features of the WeChat Open Platform. We use your information for account set-up, to facilitate communications, provide support, allow you to access features of WeChat, and to improve WeChat. WeChat uses contact channels provided by you, such as mobile number or email address, for verifying and protecting your account and for important administrative reasons and does not use these channels for promotional or marketing reasons. More...

Who do we share your data with?

We do not share your information with any third parties, except where we need to in order to provide the service (e.g., use SMS service providers for account validation; for mapping services; for other point-of-interest services; using our affiliates around the world to help us to deliver WeChat) or if we are instructed to by a court, authority or compelled by law. We use these third party services solely to process or store your information for the purposes described in this policy. Any third party (selected by us) with whom we share user data is required to provide the same or equal protection of user data as stated in this policy. More...

Where do we process your data?

Our servers are located in Ontario, Canada and Hong Kong. We also have support, engineering and other teams that support the provision of WeChat to you, located around the world. Your data may be accessed from such locations. Rigorous internal control measures are undertaken to strictly limit access to your data by designated team members. More...

How long do we keep hold of your data?

The time we retain your information for depends on the type of information – for example, log-in data is retained for up to 90 days from the date the data is collected. If you instruct us to delete your WeChat account, your information is deleted within 60 days of the latter of verification of account ownership and receiving your account deletion request. More...

How can I exercise my rights over my data?

Depending on where you live, you may have special rights over your data and how we can use it. These include how you can access the data, erasing the data, restricting how your data can be used, objecting to its use, and getting a copy of your information. More...

How will we notify you of changes?

If there are any significant changes to this Privacy Policy, we will update the policy here and notify you before the change becomes effective.

Contact

If you have any concerns or complaints, please contact us here.

Data Controllers:

Users located in the European Economic Area and Switzerland: Tencent International Service Europe BV.

Users located outside of the European Economic Area or Switzerland (subject to the below): Tencent International Service Pte. Ltd.

If you either:

you are subject to the Weixin Terms of Service and Weixin Privacy Policy and not this Privacy Policy.

Data Protection Officer:

Email: dataprotection@wechat.com

Postal mail: 26.04 on the 26th floor of Amstelplein 54, 1096 BC Amsterdam, the Netherlands

If you have an unresolved privacy or data use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily, please contact our third party dispute resolution provider (free of charge) at https://feedback-form.truste.com/watchdog/request.


WeChat Privacy Policy

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to WeChat!

The use of our services (being the WeChat mobile app, the website www.wechat.com or any third party platforms through which WeChat is provided) (together, "WeChat") involve the processing of your Information.

This privacy policy explains the when, how, and why when it comes to processing of your Information in connection with WeChat, and sets out your choices and rights in relation to that Information. Please read it carefully – it is important for you to understand how we collect and use your Information, and how you can control it.

By using WeChat you agree to the processing of your Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

When you use certain features you will be asked to agree to the processing of your Information in certain ways (for example, when you follow an Official Account, you are asked if you agree to the transfer of your data to a third party). You can find information on how to control your preferences and the use of your Information via your account here. For certain Information you may withdraw your agreement to the processing of that Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

If you do not agree to the processing of your Information in the way this privacy policy describes, please do not provide your Information when requested and stop using WeChat.

Contact

In this Privacy Policy, "we", "our", or "us" refers to:

If you have any questions or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy or the use of your Personal Information, please contact our Data Protection Officer via email at dataprotection@wechat.com or via postal mail at 26.04 on the 26th floor of Amstelplein 54, 1096 BC Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Attention: Data Protection Officer, Legal Department).

If you wish to make any complaints regarding this Privacy Policy or its implementation by us, please contact us via the above contact details. Please note that if you are a resident in the European Union you have the right to lodge a complaint with your country’s data protection authority.

SCOPE AND APPLICATION OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy applies to WeChat, as well as any services accessible on the WeChat platform that state that this Privacy Policy applies to the use of such service (for example, users that follow or use Official Accounts, Mini Programs and WeChat Login for third-party apps). Those WeChat services may have further privacy-related terms that you must agree to if you use those services. Any capitalised terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meaning as the equivalent defined terms in the WeChat Terms of Service, unless they are defined otherwise in this Privacy Policy.

Please note that this Privacy Policy does not apply to Information that you choose to disclose or submit to:

a) services other than WeChat (such as other products or services supplied or operated by us or our affiliates), that do not expressly state that this Privacy Policy applies;

b) any third party services (including any third party websites) that you may access through WeChat; or

c) companies or organizations that promote or provide products or services on WeChat.

If you are using WeChat on behalf of a company, partnership, association, government or other organization (your "Organization"), you agree to notify your Organization’s relevant individual owners, shareholders, directors, officers, managers, employees and other relevant individuals whose Personal Information we collect or you provide to us from time to time ("Connected Persons") of the collection of their Personal Information, and you agree to obtain your Connected Persons’ consent to the processing of their Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy as required by applicable laws and regulations. When this Privacy Policy refers to "you" or "your" this includes you and any Connected Persons. If you or any Connected Persons would like to request your personal information be removed from our database, please contact us at dataprotection@wechat.com.

WHAT INFORMATION DO YOU NEED TO PROVIDE WECHAT?

This section describes the different types of personal information we collect from you and how we collect it. If you would like to know more about specific types of data and how we use that data, please see the section entitled "How do we use your information" below.

We process different categories of information and data in providing WeChat. These are set out below:

"Location Data" is information that is derived from your GPS, Wi-Fi, compass, accelerometer, IP address, or public posts that contain location information. Location information will be disclosed (either to us, to other users, or both):

"Log Data" is information that we automatically collect when you use WeChat, whether through the use of cookies, web beacons, log files, scripts or ETags (as explained in more detail in our Cookies Policy), including:

"Personal Information" is any information, or combination of information, that relates to you, that can be used (directly or indirectly) to identify you. We set out examples of Personal Information (and how we collect such Personal Information) in "How do we use your information" below.

"Shared Information" is information about you or relating to you that is voluntarily shared by you on WeChat. Shared Information may include postings that you make on WeChat (including your public profile, the lists you create, and photos, videos and voice recordings as accessed with your prior consent through your device’s camera and/or microphone sensor), any postings from others that you re-post and Location Data and Log Data associated with such postings. Shared Information also includes information about you (including Location Data and Log Data) that others who are using WeChat share about you.

References to "Information" in this Privacy Policy mean both Personal Information and Non-Personal Information.

HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

This section provides more detail on the types of personal information we collect from you, and why. For users who live in the European Economic Area (EEA), it also identifies the legal basis under which we process your data:

InformationPurpose of Processing
Registration Data and Log-in Data. Your name, user alias, mobile phone number, password, gender, and IP address.
Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide your WeChat profile and provide WeChat services.
  • to set up and log in to a user account on WeChat;
  • to notify you about changes to WeChat;
  • to facilitate communication;
  • to provide you with user support;
  • to enforce our terms, conditions, and policies;
  • to place VoIP calls using WeChat;
  • to communicate with you;
  • to provide personalised help and instructions;
  • to better understand how you access and use WeChat;
  • to develop new and improve existing services;
  • to provide language and location customisation;
  • to protect any rights, property or safety of ours, our affiliate companies, or other users of WeChat; and
  • to administer WeChat and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, security, fraud-detection, account management, and survey purposes.
User Profile Search Data. Record of search inquiries.
Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide efficient access to your WeChat activity.
  • to provide quick access to previous searches.
Shared Information - Profile Data. Any information that you include in your publicly-visible WeChat profile, which may include your profile ID, name, and photo.
Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide your WeChat profile and provide WeChat services.
  • to administer the WeChat platform in accordance with your instructions and requests;
  • to provide personalised help and instructions;
  • to provide language and location customisation;
  • to develop new and improve existing services;
  • to better understand how you access and use WeChat;
  • to maintain your WeChat account in accordance with your instructions and requests.
Shared Information – Profile Media. This comprises all of the information you make available to other users via WeChat, comprising:
  • WeChat Moments and Time Capsule posts and responding to other users’ WeChat Moments and and Time Capsules; and
  • information made available by another user about you via their use of WeChat – for example, any Shared Information that others using WeChat make available about you via WeChat Moments, Time Capsule, and and communications they make to you and others using WeChat.

Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide your WeChat profile and provide WeChat services.
  • to administer the WeChat platform;
  • to provide personalised help and instructions;
  • to provide language and location customisation;
  • to develop new and improve existing services;
  • to maintain your WeChat account;
  • to better understand how you access and use WeChat.
Additional Account Security. Voiceprint (an optional security features for you), Emergency Contacts, Managed Devices, Email address, Facebook Connect OpenID, Facebook Connect Token, Facebook Username, QQ ID, and if you opt in: credit card number, facial mapping/detection, and/or Sign in with Apple.
Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide and secure your WeChat account.
  • to verify your identity
  • account security.
Chat Data. Content of communications between you and another user or group of users. This is stored on your device and the devices of the users that you have sent communications to. We do not permanently store this information on our servers and it only passes through our servers so that it can be distributed to the users you have chosen to send communications to.
Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide the chat services of WeChat.
  • to facilitate delivery of communication to another user.
Contacts List. Your on-device contact list.
Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide WeChat and connect you with your friends.
  • to connect you with other WeChat users using the "Recommended Friends" function.
OpenID. We generate an OpenID each instance your WeChat account activates a third-party WeChat Open Platform service. It is a unique identifier that only exists for one account connecting to a single service and allows it to be identified without using other personal information – for example, your name or email address. In addition, we create a UnionID for each instance your WeChat account connects to a service or services operated by a single third-party operator. This allows the third-party operator to associate your activity more easily across various inter-related services offered by the same operator.
Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide your WeChat profile and provide WeChat services.
  • to allow you to follow an Official Account;
  • to allow you to use a Mini Program; and
  • to allow you to use your WeChat ID to log-in to third party services.
Log Data. See definition above.
Legal Basis (EEA): It is in our legitimate interest to ensure the security of our services, manage registrations and improve our services.
  • to better understand how you access and use WeChat;
  • to administer WeChat;
  • for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, security, fraud-detection, and account management.
Location Information. See definition above.
Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide WeChat location-related services.

Please note that use of products and services that use location information are, when used outside of the PRC, subject to the HERE Terms of Use and the HERE Privacy Policy.
  • for security, fraud-detection and account management (such as to ensure there are not multiple log-ins or suspicious log-ins on your account);
  • to provide you with location-based services that you choose to use:
  • Share Location (when you elect to share your location within a chat with other users);
  • Moments and Time Capsule/Point of Interest (geo-tagging a place in a Moments or Time Capsule post);
  • WeRun (when you elect to use this feature WeChat uses your accelerometer and gyroscope
  • Official Accounts (if you elect to disclose your location to an Official Account, that information will be shared with the Official Account);
  • Mini Program (if you choose to disclose your location to a Mini Program, or choose to find Mini Programs Nearby);
  • People Nearby, Shake, Message in a Bottle (these are location-based services that you can choose to use to disclose your general location for a limited period of time (and you can choose to clear such location data at any time);
  • Top Stories (if you access this feature, we use your location to optimize locally relevant news content for you);
  • Search (if you perform an external search using WeChat, the service uses your location to provide you with locally relevant information);
  • to provide language and location customisation.
Credit card information
Legal Basis (EEA): We process this data in accordance with our obligations under applicable law.
  • In some regions, credit card information is collected and the card information verified via a third-party payment processing service for the purpose of verifying parental or guardian consent to use WeChat by an underage minor. This information is not permanently stored to WeChat's servers and is immediately disposed after a verification request has been performed by the third-party payment processing service.
Customer Support Information. Any information that you provide to our customer support team.
Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide and support WeChat.
  • to investigate your support issue.
Device Data. Media stored on your device.
Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide WeChat services.
  • to facilitate the sharing of such media using WeChat.
Social Connect Information. Your QQ ID or Facebook Connect Token (as applicable).
Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide WeChat services.
  • if you choose to connect a third party social media account to your WeChat account, we process this information to facilitate login to WeChat via social media account.
  • if you publish content on your Moments or Time Capsule, WeChat will facilitate the publishing to a authenticated third party social media account if you choose to share this content to the third party account
Surveys. If you choose to participate in a survey, we may request certain Personal Information from you. We may use a service provider to conduct these surveys and this will be notified to you prior to you completing the survey.
Legal Basis (EEA): We collect this information with your consent.
  • to better understand how you access and use WeChat;
  • to provide personalised help and instructions;
  • to develop new and improve existing services;
  • to improve WeChat and respond to customer requests and preferences.
Contest Information. Any information that you provide to us in submitting an entry to a contest offered on WeChat.
Legal Basis (EEA): Necessary to perform our contract with you to validate contest entry and award prizes.
  • to facilitate your participation in the contest;
  • to award prizes, if applicable.
Pseudonymised and Aggregated Data. We pseudonymise and aggregate certain Personal Information to improve our services.
Legal Basis (EEA): It is in our legitimate interest to ensure the security of our services, manage registrations and improve our services.
  • Analysis of what features or actions are taken within the app in order to improve app experience
  • Fraud detection and account safety analysis
  • User demographic analysis on items such as region, phone model, operating system platform, system language, and WeChat version in order to better understand how our users are using WeChat
  • Web and account traffic statistics of what content and services are used when users access third-party services on the WeChat Open Platform as a method for informing third-party service providers basic analysis of how their service is being used by WeChat users

Some features of WeChat are only available to users in certain jurisdictions. For these features we collect additional information as follows:

InformationPurpose of Processing
Additional Registration Data – Verified Account. Nationality, date of birth, residential address, copy of residential address proof, copy of personal identification document (for example passport, identification card, home return permit, etc.), personal identification document number, occupation, and source of funds.
Availability: This feature is only available to users with mobile numbers issued in certain jurisdictions (such as Hong Kong)
If you choose to apply for account verification (in order to unlock additional payment and fund settlement features in WeChat), we use this information to:
  • to verify your identity; and
  • to facilitate payment and funds settlement.
Payments Information. Your credit card number, expiry, CVC, cardholder name, and transactional payment data via MIDAS payments SDK.. Please note that where a payment is processed by a third party payment service provider, we do not collect or store any Personal Information, though we may receive summary information about transactions.
Availability: This feature is only available to users with mobile numbers issued in certain jurisdictions (such as Hong Kong)
  • to facilitate your purchases within WeChat;
  • to validate your real name to facilitate the creation of your WeChat Pay account;
  • to process your payment using the MIDAS payments platform

Personal Information within Your Content

If any of your Personal Information comprises Your Content (as defined in the WeChat Terms of Service), we and our affiliate companies may (subject to this Privacy Policy) use such Personal Information in accordance with the "Your Content" section of the WeChat Terms of Service.

WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR DATA WITH?

We will not transfer your Personal Information to any other third parties except as specified below, or in circumstances where you consent to such transfer.

Only where necessary will we share your information with selected recipients who have a legal basis and valid jurisdiction to request such data. These categories of recipients include:

SHARED INFORMATION

WeChat enables certain information to be shared publicly with your WeChat contacts and other users of WeChat. At any time you can hide your profile from public view and search by unchecking "allow find by phone number, WeChat ID or QQ ID" in your account settings. This means that other users of WeChat will not be able to find you. We refer to this type of information above as Shared Information. Shared Information will remain publicly-available for so long as you or a user that has shared such information retains it. Even after you delete Shared Information, it may still be separately cached, copied, or stored by, or remain public through, other users or third parties who are not affiliated with and not controlled by us.

Where you have requested that we erase your Personal Information that we have made public and there are grounds for erasure, we will use reasonable steps try to tell others that are displaying the Personal Information or providing links to the Personal Information to erase it too.

Please consider carefully what you post and communicate through WeChat. In some instances, you may control what access the wider public has to your Shared Information via the privacy settings in WeChat.

COMMUNICATIONS FROM US

We may from time to time send you service-related announcements when we consider it necessary to do so (such as when we temporarily suspend WeChat for maintenance, or security, privacy, or administrative-related communications). We send these to your email address or via SMS. You may not opt-out of these service-related announcements, which are not promotional in nature and used solely to protect your account and keep you informed of important changes to WeChat.

SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION

In some jurisdictions, certain types of Personal Information, such as information about your race or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical views or personal health, is characterised as "sensitive" and is subject to stricter regulation than other types of Personal Information. Please note that content and information that you input to WeChat, such as photographs or information about your school or social activities, may reveal your sensitive Personal Information to others.

Before communicating any Personal Information of a sensitive nature within WeChat, please consider whether it is appropriate to do so.

By posting any Personal Information of a sensitive nature within WeChat, you are consenting to such information being available within the controls you have selected (for example, available to the audience of users you select as being capable of viewing your post or profile information).

SOCIAL MEDIA SHARING

Sharing Your WeChat Data outside of WeChat

Some WeChat-related features allow you to provide Shared Information to those outside of your WeChat network – for example, publicly accessible blogs and forums, or certain social media features within WeChat (such as "plug-ins" (which create a direct link between two websites) and "widgets" (which are interactive Mini Programs that provide third party services within WeChat)) allow you to re-post and disclose Shared Information. If you share information using these features then third parties unrelated to us may be able to see and use that information.

You are also able to link your WeChat contact list with the contact lists on your device and/or in your account on third party services, in order to search for and connect with contacts on those contact lists who also have a WeChat account. WeChat will ask you to consent to accessing your contact list before doing so.

Accessing and Importing Information using WeChat

WeChat allows you to link your WeChat services with select third party social media services, and import certain content and information from such third party services. For example:

Third party social media platforms are hosted by the relevant third party. WeChat services are hosted by us. Third parties that provide third party services may collect your Information (including your Personal Information and Log Data), and set cookies on your computer, or device to enable such features to function properly.

Your use of any third party services (whether social media services or otherwise), including any Personal Information you provide to such third parties and their collection and use of your Personal Information, are subject to the relevant third party’s own terms of services and privacy policies and not the WeChat Terms of Service or this Privacy Policy, so please review those third party terms carefully.

This Privacy Policy only applies to any Information collected by us, and does not apply to any services offered by or information practices of any third parties. If you choose to use third party services or features that are made available within WeChat (for example, you choose to follow an Official Account or use a Mini Program), then we will share certain information with that third party to allow you to use that third party service. The information we share with such a third party is described to you at the time you first use that service or feature, and we require that the third party will provide the same or equal protection of user data as stated in this policy. You can control which third parties have access to this information in your account. You can withdraw your agreement to the sharing of that information at any time by following the instructions set out here. Please note however that if you ask us not to share that information with the third party, you may no longer be able to use that service or feature. We are not responsible for any third party use of any Information provided by you to them.

AGE RESTRICTIONS

WeChat is not intended for Children. Children under the age of 16 must not use WeChat for any purpose without first obtaining parental/guardian agreement to this Privacy Policy (both for themselves and on your behalf). We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from any children under the age of 16 without such consent. Please contact our Data Protection Officer if you believe we have any Personal Information from any children under the age of 16 without such parental/guardian consent – we will promptly investigate (and remove) such Personal Information.

WHERE DO WE PROCESS YOUR DATA?

The Tencent group operates around the world. The Personal Information that we collect from you will be transferred to, stored at, or processed in:

Our engineering, technical support, and other teams that support the supply of WeChat to you are based in our offices around the world (including Singapore, Hong Kong and the Netherlands) and may have incidental access to certain of your data in order to provide the service (for example, in order to fix technical issues that you report). We rely on the European Commission’s model contracts for the transfer of personal data to such third countries (i.e., the standard contractual clauses), pursuant to Decision 2001/497/EC (in the case of transfers to a controller) and Decision 2010/915/EC (in the case of transfers to a processor.

SECURITY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We are committed to maintaining the privacy and integrity of your personal information no matter where it is stored. We have information security and access policies that limit access to our systems and technology, and we protect data through the use of technological protection measures such as encryption.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will implement and maintain reasonable measures to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of the information transmitted to our services; therefore we do not assume any responsibility for any transmission of your information which you do at your own risk.

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP HOLD OF YOUR DATA?

We will retain your Personal Information as set out in the following table, except where we are otherwise required to retain such data in accordance with law. Should you or we terminate your account for any reason, we will take steps to ensure that your Personal Information is no longer available through WeChat, or otherwise used by us, within a reasonable period of time (subject to technical limitations) after such account termination.

Information TypeRetention Period
Registration dataUntil such time as you instruct WeChat to delete your account or you have not logged in for 180 days. Your account will be permanently deleted within 60 days of both verification of account ownership and the account deletion request.
Login dataInformation is retained for a period of 3 months from the date of such log in.
User profile search dataUntil you request removal or amendment of the Personal Information or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier.
Profile data and profile media (viewable by all users)Until you request removal or amendment of the Personal Information or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier (however, the data may be available if cached on third party services).
Profile data (viewable upon friend verification)Until you request removal or amendment of the Personal Information or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier (however, the data may be available if cached on third party services).
Additional account securityUntil you request removal or amendment of the Personal Information or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier (however, the data may be available if cached on third party services).
Chat – non-persistent and semi-persistent communication between usersData is retained for a period of 120 hours from the time of the relevant interaction and then permanently deleted.
Chat - media such as images, video, audio, and filesData is retained for a period of 72 hours from the time of the relevant interaction and then permanently deleted.
Contacts listUntil you request removal or amendment of the Personal Information or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier.
Location-based services and Location-based mediaData is retained for a period of 72 hours from the time of the relevant interaction and then permanently deleted.
Moments, Time Capsule, and Favorites -- data and mediaUntil you request removal or amendment of the Personal Information or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier (however, the data may be available if cached on third party services).
OpenID and Open ID media (given to third parties)Until you unfollow the third party developer’s application, Official Account, Mini Program or similar, or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier.
Provision of third party products and services (i.e. if you are a provider of an Official Account or Mini Program)Until such time as you instruct WeChat to delete your account. Your account will be permanently deleted within 60 days of both verification of account ownership and the account deletion request. Please note that the information disclosed to the third party is controlled by them. We will use reasonable efforts to seek that they delete such information when we do.
Information provided to an Official Account / Mini ProgramUntil such time as you instruct WeChat to delete your account or you withdraw your permission / unfollow such third party. Please note that the information disclosed to the third party is controlled by them. We will use reasonable efforts to seek that they delete such information when we do.
Information provided to customer serviceUntil such time as you instruct WeChat to delete your account. Your account will be permanently deleted within 60 days of the account deletion request.
Metadata / Log DataData is retained for 3 months from the date of log in and then permanently deleted.
Device DataUntil such time as you instruct WeChat to delete your account. Your account will be permanently deleted within 60 days of the account deletion request.
Social Connect InformationUntil such time as you instruct WeChat to delete your account or unbind your social account from your WeChat account. Your account will be permanently deleted within 60 days of the account deletion request.
CookiesData is retained for 3 months from the date of log in and then permanently deleted.

Full description of data is set out in the section *"How do we use your information"** above.

If we are required to retain your information beyond the retention periods set out above, for example to comply with applicable laws, we will store it separately from other types of personal information.

HOW CAN I EXERCISE MY RIGHTS OVER MY DATA?

Some countries' laws grant specific rights to users of WeChat, which are set out in this section.

The following section applies only to persons that are resident in the European Economic Area.

You have certain rights in relation to the Personal Information we hold about you. Some of these only apply in certain circumstances as set out in more detail below.

We set out how to exercise those rights. Please note that we will require you to verify your identity before responding to any requests to exercise your rights. We must respond to a request by you to exercise those rights without undue delay and at least within one month (although this may be extended by a further two months in certain circumstances, such as where the request involves substantial volumes of information or is otherwise complex). To exercise any of your rights, please complete the request form and follow the steps for submission.

Access & Correction

Upon request WeChat will provide you with information about whether we hold any of your personal information. You also have the right to access personal information we hold about you, how we use it, and who we share it with. You also have the right to correct that information.

You can access and correct your personal information by logging into your WeChat account at any time. For example, you can delete certain Location Data that you have provided us via your device settings or the "Clear Location" option within WeChat.

If you believe we hold any other personal information, or you want to correct information that you are unable to correct using your account, please complete the request form here. We may not be able to provide you with certain Personal Information if providing it would interfere with another’s rights (e.g. where providing the Personal Information we hold about you would reveal information about another person).

With respect to correction requests, where we agree that the Personal Information is inaccurate or incomplete, we will try to tell any third party to whom we have disclosed the relevant Personal Information so that they can rectify the Personal Information too.

Erasure

You can delete your account, or remove certain personal information, by logging into your WeChat account and following the account deletion instructions here. If there is any other personal information you believe we process that you would like us to erase, please complete the request form here.

You may request that we erase the Personal Information we hold about you in the following circumstances:

Also note that you may exercise your right to restrict our processing your Personal Information (as described below) whilst we consider a request to erase your data.

Please note, however, that we may retain the Personal Information if there are valid grounds under law for us to do so (e.g., for the defence of legal claims, freedom of expression or some other legal obligation) but we will let you know if that is the case.

Where you have requested that we erase your Personal Information that we have made public and there are grounds for erasure, we will use reasonable steps try to tell others that are displaying the Personal Information or providing links to the Personal Information to erase it too.

Restriction of Processing to Storage Only

You have a right to require us to stop processing the Personal Information we hold about you other than for storage purposes in certain circumstances. Please note, however, that if we stop processing the Personal Information, we may use it again if there are valid grounds under data protection law for us to do so (e.g. for the defence of legal claims or for another’s protection).

Where we agree to stop processing the Personal Information, we will try to tell any third party to whom we have disclosed the relevant Personal Information so that they can stop processing it too.

You may request we stop processing and just store the Personal Information we hold about you where:

Portability

You have the right to receive a copy of certain Personal Information we collect from you. This comprises any personal information we process on the basis of your consent (e.g., voluntarily-provided profile data, social media content posted to Moments and Time Capsule, content selected to store to Favorites) or pursuant to our contract with you (e.g., profile data), as described in the section "How do we use your information". You have the right to receive this information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. You also have the right to request that we transfer that personal information to another party. You can exercise your right to export your data by following the instructions here.

If you wish for us to transfer the Personal Information to a third party, please ensure you detail that party. Note that we can only do so where it is technically feasible. We are not responsible for the security of the Personal Information or its processing once received by the third party. We also may not provide you with certain Personal Information if providing it would interfere with another’s rights (e.g. where providing the Personal Information we hold about you would reveal information about another person or our trade secrets or intellectual property).

Objection

You may object to our use of your Personal Information if we use your information on the basis of our legitimate interests (such as when we use your personal information for your account security, such as to prevent malicious log-ins). If you object to such processing, please review and submit the form here, providing detailed reasons.

To the extent provided by applicable laws and regulations, you may withdraw any consent you previously provided to us by following the instructions set out here.

HOW WILL WE NOTIFY YOU OF CHANGES?

We may from time to time revise or add specific instructions, policies and terms to this Privacy Policy. These instructions, policies and terms form part of this Privacy Policy.

Whenever we make any changes to this Privacy Policy that are important for you to know about, we will post the updated Privacy Policy at this link and notify you via WeChat or other means before the change becomes effective.

TRUSTe

Last modified: 2020-09-03

Addendum for California Residents

The terms of this Addendum apply to residents of California under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) and other applicable laws. 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:

  • Identifiers, such as phone number, name, nickname, token, username, IP address, mobile application store user ID, mailing address, emergency contact information, and contact list. This information is collected directly from the consumer or device.
  • Geolocation data, including geolocation information derived from GPS coordinates, Wi-Fi access points, the compass, the accelerometer, IP address, and public posts. This information is collected directly from the consumer or device.
  • Internet or other electronic network activity information, including your device model, network type, OS type and version, client version, call history, chat data, invitations data, call credits history, search history, log data, information linked to social media accounts linked to use of WeChat, and survey information. This information is collected directly from a device.
  • Biometric information, such as voiceprints and facial recognition data. This information is collected directly from the consumer or device.
  • Commercial information, including payment card information and transaction verification information. This information is collected directly from the consumer or device.
  • Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information, including a profile picture. This information is collected directly from the consumer.
  • Other information that is described in subdivision (e) of Section 1798.80, such as nationality and gender (this information is being collected in the consumer context rather than the employer context). This information is collected directly from the user.

We collect personal information for the following purposes:

  • To operate and administer WeChat;
  • To communicate with consumers;
  • To personalise WeChat, including by providing personalised advertisements;
  • To improve our services;
  • For security and verification purposes, including to prevent and detect fraudulent activity; and
  • To address and remediate technical issues and bugs.

For additional information about what each type of personal information is used for, see this chart in the main portion of the Privacy Policy.

We disclose personal information to the following types of entities:

  • Our affiliate companies within our corporate group who process your personal information in order to operate the Services
  • Other companies that provide services on our behalf who are prohibited by contract from retaining, using, or disclosing personal information for any purpose other than for providing the services to us
  • Other users of WeChat with respect to personal information you publicly post through WeChat
  • WeChat Official Accounts and Mini Program operators, other services via which you choose to use WeChat Login for third-party apps, if you elect to follow or use the relevant Official Account / Mini Program / WeChat Login for third-parties
  • Regulators and judicial authorities and law enforcement agencies
  • Entities that acquire all or substantially all of our business

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:

  • Request we disclose to you free of charge the following information covering the 12 months preceding your request:
    • the categories of personal information about you that we collected;
    • the categories of sources from which the personal information was collected;
    • the purpose for collecting personal information about you;
    • the categories of third parties to whom we disclosed personal information about you and the categories of personal information that was disclosed (if applicable) and the purpose for disclosing the personal information about you; and
    • the specific pieces of personal information we collected about you;
  • Request we delete personal information we collected from you, unless CCPA recognizes an exemption; and
  • Be free from unlawful discrimination for exercising your rights including providing a different level or quality of services or deny goods or services to you when you exercise your rights under the CCPA.

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.

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.

Republic of Korea

The following section applies for the purposes of users located in Korea only.

WeChat is not intended for children. Children under the age of 14 must not use WeChat for any purpose without first obtaining parental/guardian consent to this 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 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 OfficerLocation of the recipient (or as otherwise stated in the recipient’s privacy policy)Purposes of use of Personal Information by the recipientItems of Personal Information to be providedDate and method of transferPeriod of retention and use of Personal Information by the recipient
Facebook (Facebook Connect)
https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/861937627253138
USATo allow users to register their accounts via their Facebook accountTechnical APIs Facebook Connect OpenID Facebook Connect Token Email AddressTransmitted from time to timeFor a period of time no longer than 5 years unless retained out of legitimate interests for fraud prevention and account security.
Apple (Sign in with Apple ID)
https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/contact/
USAFor allowing users to unblock their accounts via their Apple ID.Sign-in with Apple OpenID and TokenTransmitted from time to timeFor a period of time no longer than 5 years unless retained out of legitimate interests for fraud prevention and account security.
WeChat International Pte. Ltd.
dataprotection@wechat.com
Tencent International Service Pte.
Canada, Hong Kong SAR, SingaporeFor the operation of WeChat Out For general operational serviceWeChat ID Date/Time App Store/Google Play OpenID IAP/GP Payment metadata Credits History Call History Invitations data Login request log metadata, communication metadata (but not content of communication)Transmitted from time to time3 months
WeChat International Pte. Ltd.
dataprotection@wechat.com
Tencent International Service Pte. Ltd.
Tenpay Payment Technology Co., Ltd. (for WeChat Pay only)
dataprivacy@tencent.com
Canada, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, PRC (for WeChat Pay only)Function based on user’s consent * importing contact lists * provision of third party products & services (e.g. developer/ operator/ vend or accounts on open Platform or WeChat Pay) * customer service – fulfilling support ticket following user’s requestMobile address book (hashed prior to transfer to make plain text data unavailable to any other person including Tencent)
Contact lists (including Friend’s WeChat ID, Alias, tag(s) and description as provided by subject)
Account admin’s name, mobile phone number, email address, ID document.
Business name, mailing address, license, commercial bank, account information.
Transaction payment data via MIDAS payment SDK.
WeChat ID, OpenID, mobile phone number, email address, Feedback Content, IP address
From time to time through Tencent’s WXG and CDGUntil user revokes data permission, or user account deleted
Operators of Official Accounts, Mini Programs and other online services (including apps) that allows users to use WeChat to log-in (third party developers i.e. partners subject has elected to “follow” and grant access to).
Please refer to the privacy policy of the specific Official Account or Mini Program for contact information.
Where the servers of the Operators of Official Accounts, Mini Programs and other online services are locatedFor providing access to third party service in accordance with the user’s requests.User alias Profile Region info Gender OpenID OpenID of friends who have also granted permission to the third-party product or service Profile photoFrom time to timeUntil user unfollows the third-party developer’s app, Official Account, Mini program, etc. or user has deleted their WeChat account.
Foursquare
privacy@foursquare.com
USAFor providing location-based services in accordance with the user’s requests.Location DataFrom time to time24 hours
Google
https://policies.google.com/privacy
USATranslation serviceText to be translatedFrom time to time3 months
Microsoft
https://privacy.microsoft.com/
USATranslation service
Location-based services
Text to be translated
Location Data
From time to time3 months for translation service
24 hours for location-based services
Youdao
privacy@service.netease.com
PRCTranslation service (no Korean language supported)Text to be translatedFrom time to time3 months
FanYiJun
dataprivacy@tencent.com
PRCTranslation serviceText to be translatedFrom time to time3 months

The mandatory retention periods for Personal Information required by law in Korea is as follows:

ItemsRelevant StatuteRetention Period
Records related to entering into and withdrawing from a contractAct on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce5 years
Records related to payment and other supplies of moneyAct on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce5 years
Records related to consumer complaints and dispute settlementAct on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce3 years
Records related to labelling/advertisementAct on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce6 months
Service visit logProtection of Communications Secrets Act3 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 account or are the administrator of a WeChat feature such as a Mini Program).

The destruction procedure of Personal Information is as follows:

Destruction procedure

Personal Information that needs to be destroyed is destroyed in accordance with our data deletion and retention protocols under the supervision of our Data Protection Officer.

Destruction method

We destroy Personal Information recorded and saved in electronic format via methods such as Low Level Format so as to disable the reproduction thereof; and Personal Information recorded and saved in hardcopy via grinder or incineration.

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:

Name: Tencent Korea Yuhan Hoesa
Address: 152, Taeheran-ro, Gangnam-gu (Gangnam Finance Center, Yeoksam-dong), Seoul, Korea
Telephone Number: +82-2185-0902
E-mail: dataprotection@wechat.com

Using the WeChat Open Platform

You are using the WeChat Open Platform because you activated a service from a third-party by following an Official Account, opening a Mini Program, or using WeChat Login on a third-party app or web site. When activating a service, a small amount of data about you (user alias, profile photo, region, gender) is transferred and stored on our secure servers in the China mainland in order to make this information accessible to the third-party service. Transfers of data outside of the European Economic Area are governed by the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses as specified in the WeChat Privacy Policy. Any other information you disclose to the 3rd-party service (e.g. contact info) is governed by the 3rd-party service operator's Privacy Policy and WeChat does not have access to such information.

If you don't wish to use the WeChat Open Platform, learn how to remove my data from the WeChat Open Platform.


WECHAT PRIVACY POLICY

Last Updated: 2024-02-20

SUMMARY

Thank you for using WeChat! We respect your concerns about privacy and appreciate your trust and confidence in us.

Here is a summary of the information contained in this privacy policy ("Privacy Policy"). This summary is to help you navigate the Privacy Policy and it is not a substitute for reading everything! You can use the hyperlinks below to jump directly to particular sections in the Privacy Policy.

DOES THIS PRIVACY POLICY APPLY TO YOU?

This Privacy Policy only applies to you if you are a WeChat user, meaning that you have registered by linking a mobile number that uses an international dialing code other than +86 ("non-Chinese Mainland mobile number").

This Privacy Policy does not apply to you if you are a Weixin user. You are a Weixin user if you have either:

If you are a Weixin user, you are subject to the Weixin Agreement on Software License and Service of Tencent Weixin and Weixin Privacy Protection Guidelines and not this Privacy Policy.

You can check whether you are a WeChat or Weixin user by clicking "Me" > "Settings" > "About" and then clicking the link to the "Terms of Service". If you see the WeChat – Terms of Service then you are a WeChat user. If you see the Agreement on Software License and Service of Tencent Weixin then you are a Weixin user. Alternatively, if you are using the latest version of WeChat, you can also check whether you are a WeChat or Weixin user by verifying the service name listed in the header at the top of the "Chats" screen. If you see "WeChat" in the header then you are a WeChat user, whereas a Weixin user will see "Weixin" (or "微信" for users viewing in a Chinese language interface).

If you subsequently change your phone number (either from a Chinese Mainland mobile number to a non-Chinese Mainland mobile number, or vice versa) you will be required to convert your account (to either a WeChat or Weixin account, depending on your new phone number). If you convert your Weixin account to a WeChat account, this Privacy Policy applies to you from the date our system records such conversion. If you convert your WeChat account to a Weixin account, this Privacy Policy ceases to apply to you from the date our system records such conversion.

WHAT INFORMATION DO YOU NEED TO PROVIDE WECHAT?

When you register for a WeChat account, we will need your mobile number and an alias. You can further refine and populate your profile with additional information. If you use certain functions available within WeChat (such as posting photos to your Moments), we will process your information to provide these functions. More Information

HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

We use your information to provide WeChat to you, allow you to communicate with other users, allow you to use the features available on WeChat, and to improve and support your WeChat experience. If you are a parent or guardian who has granted permission for your child to use WeChat then we retain the contact information you have provided to ensure we can validate any requests or queries you may have in relation to your child's WeChat account. More Information

WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR DATA WITH?

We do not share your information with third parties, except where we need to in order to provide the service (e.g., SMS service providers) or if we are instructed to by a court, authority or compelled by law. We use these third party services solely to process or store your information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy . Any third party with whom we share user data is required to provide the same or equal protection of user data as stated in this Privacy Policy. More Information

WHERE DO WE PROCESS YOUR DATA?

Our servers are located in Singapore and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("Hong Kong SAR"). We also have support, engineering and other teams that support the provision of WeChat to you, located around the world (including Singapore and the Netherlands), who will have access to your information. Rigorous internal control measures are in place to strictly limit access to your data by designated personnel. More Information

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP HOLD OF YOUR DATA?

How long we retain information for depends on the type of information – for example, log-in data is retained for up to 90 days from the date the data is collected. We do not retain your information for longer than the time period prescribed by law. More Information

HOW CAN YOU EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS OVER YOUR DATA?

Depending on where you live, you may have special rights over your data and how we can use it. These include how you can access the data, erase the data, restrict how your data can be used, object to our use, and get a copy of your information. More Information

JURISDICTION-SPECIFIC ADDENDA

If you are a user located (as determined by your currently registered mobile number) in Australia, Brazil, California, Canada, Chinese Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Japan, Macau SAR, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom or Vietnam, there are additional jurisdictional-specific terms that apply to you. You can see these by visiting this page.

HOW WILL WE NOTIFY YOU OF CHANGES?

If there are any significant changes to this Privacy Policy, we will update it here and notify you before the change becomes effective. More Information

DATA CONTROLLER

CONTACT US

If you have any questions or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy or the use of your Personal Information, please contact our Data Protection Officer via email at dataprotection@wechat.com or via postal mail at Buitenveldertselaan 1-5, 1082 VA, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Attention: Data Protection Officer, Legal Department).

Please note that if you are a resident in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland you have the right to lodge a complaint with your country's data protection authority.

If you have an unresolved privacy or data use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily, please contact our third party dispute resolution provider (free of charge) at https://feedback-form.truste.com/watchdog/request.

INTEROPERABILITY WITH WEIXIN

WeChat is interoperable with Weixin, such that you are able to communicate with Weixin users and view one another's Moments and Status posts. You may also be able to use certain features operated by Weixin, in accordance with the applicable terms. You may view the list of features operated by Weixin here. When you interact with a Weixin user (or vice versa), or use or receive notifications or invitations from any feature operated by Weixin, (together “Interoperable Interaction”), we will share your information with Weixin to the extent necessary to facilitate the Interoperable Interaction. Your Interoperable Interactions will also be subject to the Weixin Privacy Protection Guidelines.

1. INTRODUCTION

Welcome to WeChat!

When you use the WeChat mobile app, desktop app, or the websites www.wechat.com or help.wechat.com (together, "WeChat"), certain of your Personal Information (defined below) will be collected and processed by us.

This Privacy Policy explains the when, how and why when it comes to processing of your Personal Information in connection with WeChat, and sets out your choices and rights in relation to that Personal Information.

Please note that this Privacy Policy only applies to WeChat. If you use any other products or services please refer to the privacy policy for that particular product or service.

If you do not agree to the processing of your personal information in the way this Privacy Policy describes, please do not provide your information when requested and stop using WeChat. By using WeChat you are acknowledging how we process your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy.

In this Privacy Policy, "we", "our" or "us" refers to:

Each of the above entities is also the data controller for users located in the abovementioned jurisdictions.

Any capitalised terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meaning as the equivalent defined terms in the WeChat Terms of Service, unless they are defined otherwise in this Privacy Policy.

CONTACT

If you have any questions or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy or the use of your Personal Information, please contact our Data Protection Officer via email at dataprotection@wechat.com or via postal mail at Buitenveldertselaan 1-5, 1082 VA, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Attention: Data Protection Officer, Legal Department). We have representatives for data protection purposes listed here.

Please note that if you are a resident in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland you have the right to lodge a complaint with your country's data protection authority.

2. SCOPE AND APPLICATION

This Privacy Policy only applies to you if you are a WeChat user.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to you if you are a Weixin user. You are a Weixin user if you had either:

If you are a Weixin user, you are subject to the Weixin Agreement on Software License and Service of Tencent Weixin and Weixin Privacy Protection Guidelines and not this Privacy Policy.

You can check whether you are a WeChat or Weixin user by clicking "Me" > "Settings" > "About" and then clicking the link to the "Terms of Service". If you see the WeChat – Terms of Service then you are a WeChat user. If you see the Agreement on Software License and Service of Tencent Weixin then you are a Weixin user. Alternatively, if you are using the latest version of WeChat, you can also check whether you are a WeChat or Weixin user by verifying the service name listed in the header at the top of the "Chats" screen. If you see "WeChat" in the header then you are a WeChat user, whereas a Weixin user will see "Weixin" (or "微信" for users viewing in a Chinese language interface).

If you subsequently change your phone number (either from a Chinese Mainland mobile number to a non-Chinese Mainland mobile number, or vice versa) you will be required to convert your account (to either a WeChat or Weixin account, depending on your new phone number). If you convert your Weixin account to a WeChat account, this Privacy Policy applies to you from the date our system records such conversion. If you convert your WeChat account to a Weixin account, this Privacy Policy ceases to apply to you from the date our system records such conversion.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to Personal Information collected by third party services that you may access through the WeChat platform (e.g., features operated by Weixin such as Advanced Search, Channels, Top Stories, and WeBeans; Weixin Open Platform services including Official Accounts, Mini Programs, and Weixin Login; Weixin Pay or WeChat Pay; or a third-party web site viewed via the internal browser), and Personal Information that you choose to share with a Weixin user. Please refer to the privacy policy of the relevant third party service. For more information, please see the section entitled "Who do we share your data with?" below.

If you are using WeChat on behalf of a company, partnership, association, government or other organisation (your "Organisation"), you agree to notify such persons in your Organisation whose Personal Information (defined below) we collect or you provide to us ("Connected Persons"), and you agree to obtain such Connected Persons' consent to the processing of their Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy as required by applicable laws and regulations. When this Privacy Policy refers to "you"or "your", this includes you and any Connected Persons. If you or any Connected Persons would like to request for your Personal Information to be removed from our database, please contact us at dataprotection@wechat.com.

3. DEFINITIONS

"Location Data" is information that is derived from your GPS (GPS coordinates), WiFi (approximate city location), IP address (country location), or public posts that contain location information (the location you geo-tag). Location Data will be disclosed (either to us, to other users, or both):

You may disable the collection and use of your location data through device-level settings.

"Log Data" is information that is automatically collected when you use WeChat, including:

"Personal Information" is any information, or combination of information, that relates to you, that can be used (directly or indirectly) to identify you, which we process in connection with your use of WeChat. Please see the section entitled "How do we use your information?" below for examples.

"Shared Information" is information that you include in your publicly-visible WeChat profile, information you make available to other users via WeChat (e.g., via your Moments and Status posts), information about you that is made available by another user via their use of WeChat or Weixin, and Location Data.

4. HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

This section provides more detail on the types of Personal Information we collect from you, purpose of processing, and retention periods for each type of Personal Information.

For users resident in a Relevant Jurisdiction, it also identifies the legal basis under which we process your data. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, a "Relevant Jurisdiction" includes the EEA, UK, Switzerland, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, and Türkiye.

We do not retain Personal Information for longer than is necessary unless we are required or permitted to do so under applicable laws. If we are required to retain your Personal Information beyond the retention periods set out below, for example to comply with applicable laws, we will store it separately from other types of Personal Information. Aggregated registration data (which does not contain Personal Information) is retained for spam prevention and system security purposes. For further details on how long we keep your data, please refer to the retention periods set out below.

InformationPurpose of ProcessingRetention Period
Registration data and log in data. Your name, alias, Apple ID, Facebook ID, IP address, account identifier, mobile number, region, location as determined by your currently registered mobile number, Facebook account, email address used to register a WeChat account and date of registration.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): Necessary to perform our contract with you to create your WeChat profile and provide WeChat services.
- To set up your WeChat account and facilitate your log in;
- to facilitate communication between users of WeChat and Weixin;
- to facilitate your use of Weixin features;
- to enforce our terms, conditions, and policies;
- to place VoIP calls using WeChat;
- to communicate with you to notify you about changes to WeChat;
- to provide you with personalised user support;
- to develop new and improve existing services as well as the tools we use to detect account violations and enhance the safety and quality of accounts;
- to provide language and location customisation;
- to protect any rights, property or safety of ours, our affiliate companies, or other users of WeChat; and
- to administer WeChat and for troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, security, fraud-detection, account management, and survey purposes.
Registration data is retained until your account is deleted, or until you unlink your WeChat account from your Apple or Facebook account, whichever is earlier.
Log in data is retained for a period of 3 months from the date of such log in.
Shared Information – profile data. Any information that you include in your publicly-visible WeChat profile, which includes your WeChat ID, name, gender, region, and photo.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide your WeChat profile and provide WeChat services.
- To allow your profile data to be shared with other WeChat and Weixin users;
- to allow you to use your WeChat ID to log in to or otherwise connect with third party services;
- to facilitate your use of Weixin features;
- to provide you with personalised user support;
- to provide language and location customisation;
- to develop new and improve existing services and app experience;
- to maintain and administer the WeChat platform; and
- for troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, security, fraud-detection and account management.
Until you request removal of the Shared Information or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier (however, the data may be cached on third party services and retained in accordance with their own privacy policies).
Shared Information – profile media. This comprises all of the information you make available to other users or information about you that is made available by other WeChat and Weixin users, including Moments and Status posts.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide your WeChat profile and provide WeChat services.
- To allow your profile media to be shared with other WeChat and Weixin users;
- to provide location customisation;
- to develop new and improve existing services and app experience;
- to maintain and administer the WeChat platform;
- for troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, security, fraud-detection and account management; and
- to develop and improve tools we use to detect account violations and enhance the safety and quality of WeChat accounts.
Until you request removal of the Shared Information or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier (however, the data may be cached on third party services and retained in accordance with their own privacy policies).
Information for additional account security (if you choose to secure your account). Password, Emergency Contacts, Managed Devices, email address, and QQ ID.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide and secure your WeChat account.
To provide additional security for your account.Until you request removal of the information or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier.
Personal settings. These include personal account settings viewable to you but not shared with other users such as settings to customize your WeChat experience, personal annotations and details that you add to your own account and to your contacts.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): Necessary to provide you with services customized to your preferences.
To provide you services customized to your preferences.Until you request removal of the information or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier.
Chat data. Content of communications between you and another user or group of users. We do not permanently retain chat data on our servers and it only passes through our servers so that it can be distributed to your intended recipients. Chat data is only stored on your device and the devices of the users that you have sent communications to, unless your recipient adds any of your communications to their Favorites or it is a message that the owner or administrator of your group chat added as a Group Notice.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide the chat services of WeChat.
To provide our communication service.Chat messages are automatically and permanently deleted from our servers within 3 hours of delivery to the recipient's device, and in any event, permanently deleted after 72 hours of you sending them. Chat media such as images, audio, videos, and files are automatically and permanently deleted from our servers after 120 hours of you sending them.
Contacts and friends list. Your on-device contact list and your WeChat list of group chats and friends list.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide WeChat and connect you with your friends.
- To connect you with other WeChat and Weixin users;
- (in relation to your list of group chats and friends list) to develop and improve tools we use to detect account violations and enhance the safety and quality of WeChat accounts; and
- to facilitate your use of WeChat Out.
Until you request removal or amendment of the Personal Information or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier.
Log Data. See definition above.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): It is in our legitimate interest to ensure the security of our services, manage registrations and improve our services.
- For troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, security, fraud detection, and account management.Permanently deleted 3 months from the date of collection.
Location Data. See definition above.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide WeChat location-based services.
Please note that your use of location-based services is subject to the terms of use and privacy policies of third party service providers that power the location-based services of such services.
- To facilitate your use of location-based services such as:
  • sharing your real time location via chat, which relies on your GPS;
  • manually geo-tagging a location in a Moments or Status post;
  • People Nearby and Shake, which rely on your GPS;
- for security, fraud detection and account management; and
- to provide language and location customisation.
Location data used for location-based services:
- Location data shared via chat is permanently deleted after 72 hours from the time of your sharing.
- Moments and Status when you manually choose to geo-tag a location in your post: retained until you delete such post or your account is deleted, whichever is earlier.
- People Nearby and Shake: permanently deleted after 1 hour from the time of you leaving the function.
Location data used for all other purposes is retained for a period of 3 months from the date of collection.
Payment card information – parental/guardian consent. In order to comply with laws protecting children, payment card information of a parent/guardian is collected to verify parental/guardian consent where a Child attempts to create a WeChat account, and the payment card information is verified via a third party payment processing service. After a verification request has been performed by the third party payment processing service, WeChat only retains the date of verification and hashed payment card number.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): We process this data in accordance with our obligations under applicable laws.
To verify parental/guardian consent where a Child attempts to create a WeChat account.Until the parent/guardian or user requests removal of the payment card information and only if the user has reached the age of majority under relevant local laws.
Text for which you request a translation.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): Necessary to perform our contract with you.
To provide you with translation of the text as requested by you.Text to be translated and translated text is hashed and cached for 24 hours from the time you request for translation.
Customer Support Information Communications with and any information that you or other users provide to our customer support team.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide and support WeChat.
- To investigate the issue and provide customised customer support;
- to develop new and improve existing services and app experience;
- for security, fraud detection, and account management; and
- for moderation of content or behaviour that is prohibited by applicable laws and regulations, or which otherwise violate WeChat's terms of service or other rules applicable to WeChat users.
Until your account is deleted, unless otherwise required by law.
Access tokens. Access tokens that facilitate the linkage of your WeChat account with your third party social media accounts.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): Necessary to perform our contract with you to provide WeChat services.
If you connect third party social media accounts to your WeChat account, we process access tokens to facilitate your log ins and your sharing of content between these accounts.Until you unlink your WeChat account from these third party social media accounts.
Surveys. If you participate in a survey, we may request certain Personal Information from you. The purpose of the survey and the identity of the service provider providing the survey (if we engaged a service provider), will be notified to you prior to you completing the survey.
Legal Basis (Relevant Jurisdictions only): We collect this information with your consent.
- To better understand how you access and use WeChat;
- to develop new and improve existing services and app experience;
- to improve WeChat and respond to customer requests and preferences; and
- and for any purposes enumerated in the survey itself.
Until your account is deleted or as otherwise stated in the survey itself, whichever is earlier.

We may also pseudonymise or aggregate Personal Information for analytical purposes. This helps us develop new and improve existing services, conduct fraud detection and account safety analysis, analyse usage trends, and provide third party service providers with basic statistics about how their service is being used by WeChat users.

SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION

In some jurisdictions, certain types of Personal Information, such as information about your race, religious, political or philosophical views, sexual orientation, and health, are characterised as sensitive and are subject to stricter regulation than other types of Personal Information.

WeChat does not require you to provide sensitive Personal Information to use the service. By posting or communicating any sensitive Personal Information within WeChat, you consent to such information being available within the privacy controls you have selected.

SHARED INFORMATION

You can control which Shared Information is made public to other users of WeChat and Weixin via the privacy settings in WeChat. After you delete Shared Information, it may still be separately cached, copied, or stored by, or remain public through, other users or third parties who are not affiliated with and not controlled by us. Please consider carefully what you post and communicate through WeChat.

PERSONAL INFORMATION WITHIN YOUR CONTENT

If any of your Personal Information comprises Your Content (as defined in the WeChat Terms of Service), we and our affiliate companies may (subject to this Privacy Policy) use such Personal Information in accordance with the "Your Content" section of the WeChat Terms of Service. Your Content will be processed to ensure compliance with the WeChat Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy.

WECHAT GUARDIAN MODE FUNCTION

All WeChat users will be able to use the WeChat Guardian Mode function, under which certain option for sending and receiving friend requests and visibility of Moments shared to non-friends will be restricted. WeChat Guardian Mode also enables the designation of an individual (called a "Guardian") who will have the ability to impose restrictions on a specific user's use of WeChat by suspending or restricting specific functions such as Official Accounts and Mini Programs. For a complete list of the relevant functions and more information in relation to the WeChat Guardian Mode function, please refer to the function's terms of use available here. We will not collect personal information of those functions that have been restricted as part of the WeChat Guardian Mode, for the duration that such relevant restrictions are active.

5. WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR DATA WITH?

We will not transfer your Personal Information to third parties except as specified below, or where you consent to such transfer.

Only where necessary will we share your information with selected recipients, including:

6. WHERE DO WE PROCESS YOUR DATA?

WeChat is a global platform. Our engineering, technical, and other support teams are based in our offices around the world (including Singapore and the Netherlands), and may have incidental access to certain of your information, for example, in order to fix technical issues that you report. The Personal Information that we collect from you will be transferred to, stored at, or processed in Singapore and Hong Kong SAR. We rely on the European Commission's model contracts for the transfer of personal data to third countries.

7. SECURITY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We are committed to maintaining the privacy and integrity of your Personal Information no matter where it is stored or accessed. We protect your Personal Information through the use of information security and access policies that limit unauthorised access to our systems, and technological protection measures such as encryption that ensure confidentiality of your Personal Information during transmission and in storage.

We do not permanently retain chat data between you and other users on our servers. Chat data only passes through our servers so that it can be securely distributed to your intended recipients. Chat data is only stored on your device and the devices of the users that you have sent communications to, unless any of you or your recipient adds any of your communications, shares the relevant chat externally such as by saving it to Favorites or including the chat history when reporting a chat for abuse, or when the administrator of your group chat has added a Group Notice, in which case the Group Notice will be retained so it can be accessed by group members in the future..

Although we will implement and maintain reasonable measures to protect your Personal Information, please note that as any transmission of information via the internet is never completely secure.

8. ADVERTISING

WeChat does not currently display personalised advertising.

9. COMMUNICATIONS FROM US

We may send you service-related announcements via WeChat, email, or SMS when necessary, such as when we temporarily suspend WeChat for maintenance, or security, or privacy reasons. You may not opt-out from these service-related announcements which are not promotional in nature.

10. AGE RESTRICTIONS AND PARENTAL/GUARDIAN CONTROLS

Children under the age of 13 (or such applicable age of majority under relevant local laws of the user) ("Child") must not use WeChat for any purpose without first obtaining parental/guardian consent to and acknowledgment of this Privacy Policy (both for themselves and on their Child's behalf). In certain jurisdictions, you may be required to provide your date of birth; we will however only process the year and month of your birth. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from any Child without such consent and acknowledgment. Please contact our Data Protection Officer if you believe we have any Personal Information from any Child without such parental/guardian consent and acknowledgment so that we can promptly investigate and remove such Personal Information.

11. YOUR RIGHTS

This Section 11 (Your Rights) only applies to users located in a Relevant Jurisdiction, unless otherwise specified.

If you are a user located in Australia, Brazil, California, Canada, Chinese Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Japan, Macau SAR, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Vietnam, the terms set out under the name of your jurisdiction in this page apply to you in addition to the terms set out in our Privacy Policy.

You may have certain rights in relation to the personal information we hold about you. Some of these only apply in certain circumstances (as set out in more detail below). 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 ("DSR Request"). To exercise any of your rights, please complete the request form here.

Access & Correction

This section also applies to users resident in Argentina, Canada and Russia.

You have the right to request access to your Personal Information we hold about you, how we use it, and who we share it with. We may not be able to provide you with certain Personal Information if providing it to you would interfere with another person's rights (e.g. where providing the Personal Information we hold about you would reveal information about another person).

You also have the right to correct that information if it is inaccurate or incomplete.

You can access and correct your Personal Information by logging into your WeChat account at any time. For example, you can delete certain Location Data via your device settings or the "Clear Location" option within WeChat.

If you want us to correct your Personal Information that you are unable to correct using your account, please complete the request form here.

Where we agree to correct your Personal Information, we will use reasonable steps to inform any third party to whom we have disclosed the relevant Personal Information so that they can rectify the Personal Information too.

Erasure

This section also applies to users resident in Argentina, Canada and Russia.

You can delete your account, or remove certain Personal Information, by logging into your WeChat account and following the account deletion instructions here. Subsequent to account deletion, aggregated registration data is retained for spam prevention and systems security purposes.

Note that we will not be able to delete your account if you have a positive balance in your Weixin Pay or WeChat Pay account or are the administrator of an Official Account or Mini Program.

If there is any other Personal Information you believe we process that you would like us to erase, please complete the request form here.

You may request that we erase the Personal Information we hold about you where:

You may exercise your right to restrict our processing your Personal Information (as described below) whilst we consider a request to erase your data.

We may retain the Personal Information if there are valid legal grounds for us to do so (e.g., for the defence of legal claims, freedom of expression or some other legal obligation) but we will let you know if that is the case.

Where you have requested that we erase your Personal Information that we have made public and there are valid legal grounds for erasure, we will use reasonable steps to inform any third party to whom we have disclosed the relevant Personal Information so that they can erase it too.

Restriction of Processing to Storage Only

This section also applies to users resident in Russia.

You have a right to require us to stop processing your Personal Information other than for storage purposes in certain circumstances. However, we may process it if there are other valid legal grounds for us to do so (e.g., for the defence of legal claims or for another's protection).

Where we agree to stop processing the Personal Information, we will use reasonable steps to inform any third party to whom we have disclosed the relevant Personal Information so that they can stop processing it too.

You may request we stop processing and just store the Personal Information we hold about you where:

Portability

You have the right to receive a copy of certain of your Personal Information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. This comprises any Personal Information we process on the basis of your consent (e.g., Shared Information and content saved to Favorites) or pursuant to our contract with you (e.g., profile data), as described in the section "How do we use your information?". You can exercise your right to export your data by following the instructions here.

You also have the right to request that we transfer that Personal Information to another party. If you wish for us to transfer the Personal Information to a third party, please ensure you provide details of such party. Note that we can only make such transfers where it is technically feasible. We are not responsible for the security of the Personal Information or its processing once received by the third party.

Objection

This section also applies to users resident in Russia.

You may object to our use of your Personal Information that we use on the basis of our legitimate interests (e.g., when we use your Personal Information to ensure account security). If you object to such processing, please complete this request form.

To the extent provided by applicable laws and regulations, you may withdraw any consent you previously provided to us by following the instructions set out here.

12. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may from time to time revise this Privacy Policy. We will update the revised version here along with the "last updated" date, and notify you via WeChat or other means, as appropriate, before the change becomes effective.

13. LANGUAGE

We have provided translations of this Privacy Policy, but in the event of any conflict between the local language version and the English version, unless otherwise prescribed by applicable laws, the English version shall prevail.

Our Representatives in Certain Jurisdictions

JurisdictionRepresentativeAddressContact details
KoreaTencent Korea Yuhan Hoesa152, Taeheran-ro, Gangnam-gu (Gangnam Finance Center, Yeoksam-dong), Seoul, Koreadataprotection@wechat.com
SerbiaKaranovic & Partners o.a.d. BeogradResavska 23, Belgrade, 11000, Serbialocal.representative@karanovicpartners.com
ThailandTencent (Thailand) Company Limited8 T-One Building, Floor 10th, 11th & 12th (Unit 3-5), Soi Sukhumvit 40, Sukhumvit Road, Khwaeng Phra Khanong, Khet Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110, Thailandlocalrepresentative@tencent.co.th
TürkiyeÖzdağıstanli Ekici Avukatlık Ortaklığı.Nidakule Ataşehir Kuzey, Begonya Sok. No:3 Kat. 17 D: 162 / 34746 Ataşehir / İstanbul, Türkiye

Özdağıstanli Ekici Avukatlık Ortaklığı is our data controller representative and its authority is limited to the authorities stipulated under the Law on Protection of Personal Data w. no 6698. Özdağıstanli Ekici Avukatlık Ortaklığı is not authorised for any other matters such as conduct in WeChat, bans, investigations, civil or criminal complaints.
tencent@iptech-legal.com

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