Tencent’s WeChat tightens privacy controls for third-party apps, calls out rival DingTalk for alleged violations

The ubiquitous app has restricted rights to collect sensitive personal information to a smaller group of mini program developers. It also highlighted risks posed by links from third-party apps, saying they “could leak private information without the user’s knowledge”. — SCMP

WeChat tightened privacy controls on third-party apps this week, restricting rights to collect sensitive personal information to a smaller group of developers and requiring them to explain what personal information they are collecting and how.

Under the new privacy controls, information can only be gathered on a need-to-know basis for mini programs, which run within the WeChat platform. Developers must include information about the types of personal data they are collecting and how they are doing so in the app’s back-end data, WeChat’s legal team said in a statement on its official account.