Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article: A1329-W944

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1329-W944

Release Date: October 18, 2020

发布日：2020年10月18日

Topic: WeChat and Freedom of Speech -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：微信和言论自由 -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

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WeChat and Freedom of Speech

-- Wei Jingsheng

Recently, a Chinese organization sued the U.S. government, saying that prohibiting WeChat from operating in the U.S. violated freedom of speech and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. A few days ago, some people also accused China's WeChat company of violating the freedom of speech of American citizens. Moreover, there is a great overlap between the two groups, and the people watching are dazzled, without understanding what they really want.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s control of WeChat and Weibo is well known, with its censorship and barbaric speed of deleting posts and eliminating the related user ID’s. If this kind of conduct does not violate freedom of speech, what is a violation of freedom of speech? The CCP has no shame to claim that it would not allow freedom of speech, and it has openly and severely cracked down on freedom of speech with its laws and practices. This is a fact recognized by the whole world. Recently, China ranked as the bottom country in evaluation of freedom of speech. It is the country with the least freedom of speech among more than 200 countries and regions in the world. Can WeChat be an exception? Tencent (the parent company of WeChat) and WeChat were not sent to jail or interrogated by the Chinese police, but were supported by the CCP. Does this show that they have freedom of speech?

Chinese Internet companies such as WeChat have to help the Communist regime to crack down on freedom of speech and block political criticism. This requirement is the opposite of freedom of speech. It is working to assure no freedom of speech. Does this have anything to do with the First Amendment to the US Constitution? However, a group of people confuse the essence and insist that the censorship was a matter of safeguarding freedom of speech. They shamelessly safeguard the autocratic politics of the Communist regime, yet pretend to safeguard the democratic Constitution, and even act as dissidents. This is a great irony towards the system of democracy, freedom and the rule of law.

Recently, the American people and their government have increased their vigilance against communist infiltrations. The well-known CCP media and institutions can no longer operate unimpeded in the United States as they were before. How to counter it? The CCP’s intelligence agencies have come up with a trick -- using the magnanimity and kindness of the American judiciary, as the spear to attack this shield itself – that is to use the laws of the United States to attack and disrupt the USA. It is indeed a sneaky way for the wolves in sheep's clothing to break through the vigilance of the Americans.

It is difficult for the Americans and their government to distinguish the complexity within the Chinese community, which creates favorable conditions for wolves in sheep's clothing. Chinese democrats are not gangsters either, so anyone can put the hat of a “democracy activist” over their heads. This creates conditions for the CCP spies and informants to put on sheep's clothing. How successful they are in their pretending depends on their own personal luck and work. There are not just a few people who have successfully infiltrated into or pulled away from democratic organizations. They include the traitors of the democracy movement who surrendered in prisons. Fortunately, the majority of netizens gradually deepened their understanding of this issue.

A few months ago, someone filed a class action lawsuit against WeChat and its parent company Tencent. I thought it was a good thing. But soon a victim of WeChat came to me and said that the lawsuit was in the hands of someone that will make a big matter to be diminished into a smaller one, until nothing. They asked me to persuade the US government to come forward to solve the problem of WeChat's crazy deletion of posts and elimination of the related users. Now that the US government has finally come forward, a large group of people have turned to sue the US government. This dramatic change really dazzled everyone.

The legal basis for suing WeChat is complete. That is because WeChat frantically deleted CCP disliked speeches even in the United States and banned the related users. This violated the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and constituted a violation of freedom of speech and should be punished. The U.S. government's prohibition of WeChat from operating in the U.S. not only has sufficient legal basis, but also complies with the principle of reciprocity and fairness between countries. The Communist regime prohibits the corresponding media of the United States from entering China, and the United States should prohibit large foreign propaganda monopolized by the Communist regime from entering the United States. The U.S. government made mistakes in the past, and now it has good reasons to correct it. It's never too late to make up for it.

However, although the CCP's strategy is vicious, its operation is a mess. They vigorously promoted their abuse and falsely accuse with the US laws, yet forget that it is not in a lawless China. Take the case of WeChat Alliance v. U.S. Department of Justice; the so-called organization representing WeChat users violated the law of donation fraud. It is a makeshift team without legal qualifications, but misguided donors into believing it was a legitimate NGO. Just this donation fraud crime is enough for these wolves in sheep's clothing.

Whether the CCP’s vicious trick will be successful and whether the American judges will be confused, we will take a further look at later on.

(This English version is translated by Ciping HUANG, without any compensation. Wei Jingsheng and the Wei Jingsheng Foundation appreciate her decades of contribution, especially for allowing the use and distribution of her translations of these commentaries.)

Original link of the commentary broadcasted by Radio Free Asia:

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wj-10162020143116.html

To hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's related commentary, please visit:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2020/WeiJS201015onWeChat.mp3

(Written and recorded on October 15, 2020. Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia on October 16, 2020.)

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中文版

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article: A1329-W944

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1329-W944

Release Date: October 18, 2020

发布日：2020年10月18日

Topic: WeChat and Freedom of Speech -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：微信和言论自由 -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问：

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2020/report2020-10/WeiJS201018onWeChatA1329-W944.htm

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微信和言论自由

-- 魏京生

最近有华人组织控告美国政府，说禁止微信在美国运营是侵犯了言论自由，违反了美国宪法第一修正案。前些日子也有人控告中国的微信公司，说它侵犯了美国公民的言论自由。而且这两班人有很大的重叠，看的人眼花缭乱，不知道他们到底要什么？

中共对微信和微博的控制广为人知，其删帖封号的野蛮快速也广为人知。这如果不违反言论自由，什么才是违反言论自由？中共毫无廉耻地声称没有什么言论自由，在法律和实践中公开和严厉打击言论自由，这是被全世界承认的事实。最近刚刚在言论自由度评比中位列垫底，是全世界两百多国家和地区中，最没有言论自由的国家。微信能够例外吗？腾讯公司和微信并没有被喝茶进监狱，反而受到中共的扶持，这说明它有言论自由吗？

微信等等中国的网络公司不得不帮助共产党打击言论自由，封锁政治批评，这正是言论自由的反面，是在维护言论不自由，这和美国宪法第一修正案有关系吗？但是一群人硬是指鹿为马，把打击言论自由说成是维护言论自由，无耻地维护共产党的专制政治，还扮演成维护民主宪法，甚至扮演成异议人士。这是对民主自由法制的极大讽刺。

最近以来，美国人民和政府加大了对共产党渗透的警惕。公开的中共媒体和机构已经不能在美国畅通无阻了。怎么办呢？中共的情报机构想出了一个阴损招数，利用美国司法的宽宏和仁慈，以子之矛攻子之盾，用美国的法律来打击和扰乱你自己。用披着羊皮的狼来突破美国人民的警惕性，不可谓不巧妙。

美国人民和政府很难辨别华人社区内的复杂性，这就为披着羊皮的狼创造了条件。民主派组织也不是黑帮团体，因而谁都可以给自己戴上一顶民运人士的帽子。这就给中共特务和线人创造了披上羊皮的条件。装得像不像就看个人造化了，成功打进来拉出去的不在少数，包括在监狱中投降的民运叛徒。好在广大网民对此逐渐加深了认识。

前几个月有人提起了对微信和其母公司腾讯的集体诉讼，我以为这是件好事。但是很快就有微信的受害人找到我，说官司在某某人手里，必定是大事化小，小事化了。他们要求我说服美国政府出面解决微信疯狂删帖的问题。现在美国政府终于出面了，果然就有一大帮人转而控告美国政府了。这翻手为云，覆手为雨的戏剧性变化，着实让大家眼花缭乱。

控告微信法律依据完善。因为微信在美国疯狂删除共产党不喜欢的言论并且封号，违反了美国的宪法第一修正案，构成了违反言论自由，应该受到惩罚。而美国政府禁止微信在美国运营，不但法理依据充分，而且符合国家间对等公平的原则。共产党不准美国的相应媒体进入中国，美国就应该禁止共产党垄断的大外宣进入美国。过去的美国政府犯了错误，现在纠正理由充分。亡羊补牢，犹未为晚。

不过中共的策略虽然恶毒阴狠，操作却是一塌糊涂。利用美国法律滥诉诬告轰轰烈烈，却忘了这里不是无法无天的中国。就拿微信诉美国司法部一案来说，那个所谓代表微信用户的组织，就犯了诈骗捐款的法律。这个组织是个临时拼凑的草台班子，没有合法的资格，却欺骗捐款人说他们是合法的非政府组织。就这一条诈骗捐款罪，就够这帮披着羊皮的狼们喝一壶了。

中共的损招是否成功，美国的法官是否糊涂，大家且看下回分解。

(本评论的英文版本由黄慈萍翻译。魏京生和魏京生基金会感谢她数十年来有关的无偿贡献，特别是使用和发布此译文的许可。)

本篇评论在自由亚洲电台的原始链接：

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wj-10162020143116.html