WeChat denounced by North Carolina official for complicity in US fentanyl crisis
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson has accused the Chinese social media app WeChat of facilitating cross-border money laundering that helps finance the fentanyl abuse crisis in the US.
In a video posted online on Tuesday, Jackson alleged that Mexican drug cartels have been using WeChat to coordinate cash pickups in US cities, arrange currency swaps with Chinese brokers and quietly move drug profits across borders.
'You are now a core part of the business model that is killing thousands of Americans a month,' Jackson said, addressing WeChat directly.
He called on the company to detail how it planned to prevent criminal use of its platform. 'This isn't speculation. This is based on real cases, convictions, investigations, public reports.'
The state attorney general's comments mark a significant shift in how US officials are framing the threat they claim WeChat poses. Once targeted primarily over concerns of surveillance, censorship and foreign influence, the app is now being accused of enabling criminal enterprises that directly affect American communities.
Owned by the Chinese tech giant Tencent, WeChat has more than 1 billion global users, about 19 million in the US. Its encrypted messaging and payment functions have made it especially popular among Chinese-speaking users – and, Jackson alleges, among money launderers.
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