While many are rightly concerned about the growing influence of the video-based social media platform TikTok and the Chinese government’s ability to extract incredible amounts of user data from it, China’s largest social media and video games studio, Tencent, has quietly taken a significant role. share acquired. in the most popular video game companies around the world, and no one seems to notice. From Riot Games’ flagship title Valorant to the popular Epic Games-produced Fortnite, Tencent and the Chinese Communist Party are feeding propaganda and influencing a generation of children around the world while their parents aren’t watching.
Last week, Tencent announced its intention to acquire a larger stake in French studio Ubisoft, which is behind popular titles such as Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six Siege.
In 2018, Tencent acquired 5% of the studio and then began to exert its influence over the company. For example, in 2021 Ubisoft made visual changes to certain games so that it could sell them in China. Changes include eliminating slot symbolism and skulls from playable environments. However, the company was forced to roll back those changes after players in North America and Europe pledged never to play the game again if the changes persisted.
While the China-friendly changes to some titles were rolled back after fans expressed outrage, it’s clear that game studios are increasingly concerned about pleasing Tencent and the Chinese Communist Party. With this in mind, Tencent’s quest to become Ubisoft’s largest private shareholder should not be taken lightly.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Ubisoft released numerous history games and online experiences for children who were forced to learn at home. As many gamers have pointed out, titles like Assassin’s Creed have a remarkable amount of educational value with their accurate modeling of historic cities and monuments. And with the deteriorating quality of our education system, it should come as no surprise that children and parents are turning to video games to aid in learning.
As Ubisoft continues to improve these history games and educational experiences, the CCP’s ability to influence and shape these foundational stories poses a direct threat to children around the world.
Concerns about weaponizing video game narratives into propaganda only scratches the surface of Tencent’s active campaign to conquer your home. In 2020, the online community highlighted the spyware-like anti-cheat software used in Valorant. The so-called anti-cheat software would start at your computer’s startup – regardless of whether the user opened the game or not – and would monitor all user activity, keeping track of which programs were being used. This software broke the industry standard and was seen as an invasion of user privacy.
Although Riot Games was quick to deny the allegations and change the design of the software, many were not convinced. After all, this is the same company that hid a data breach of millions of accounts from its users. Even more alarming, it was revealed in March 2019 that more than 300 million user messages sent on Tencent platforms and games were stored in a database used by the Chinese police.
Tencent has established itself as a critical tool of the CCP. The video game company has used its games to spy on Americans and has used its digital content to propagate our children. It has preyed on parents’ lack of technology literacy across the country, putting their data privacy and their children’s privacy at immediate risk.
Tencent’s silent rise to global digital dominance is one of the major threats facing American children online. From TikTok to Tencent and your kid’s favorite video game, China is committed to influencing our kids and stealing our private information. It is critical that parents take a more active role in limiting what their children play online.
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