Dispute over personal data highlights their value and vulnerability of users

TENCENT, A LEADING MOBILE INTERNET SERVICES PROVIDER, has made a complaint to the industrial administrative departments against Huawei, a domestic telecommunications equipment manufacturer, for grabbing the data of its customers. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

One of Huawei's smartphone models launched in December can analyze users' shopping and communicating habits and provide relevant information services according to the data record left on their WeChat account, a social media platform run by Tencent.

Huawei responded to Tencent's complaint by saying the users' data belongs to the users themselves, and if its customers click "agree" to Huawei's information service agreement, it grants them the right to access their WeChat data.