US Government questions game publishers over Tencent connections

American video game companies are being put under the microscope of the US Treasury department over their ties to Chinese megacorp Tencent.

Bloomberg cited an unnamed source stating the Committee on Foreign Investments has sent a letter to Epic Games, Riot, and others requesting they divulge information regarding security protocols. Namely how they handle Americans’ personal data.

This follows on recent threats by the Trump Administration to ban TikTok and WeChat over similar data security concerns, unless they’re sold off to American owned companies.

In the broader sense, American officials seem to be increasingly worried over how chummy big business has gotten with the authoritarian regime.

Tencent in particular has wrapped its tendrils around a large number of Western media and entertainment businesses. The conglomerate has outright ownership over League of Legends developer Riot, as well as a substantial 40% stake in Epic Games. They also have minority shares in a variety of other studios including Activision-Blizzard, Ubisoft, Paradox Interactive, Glu Mobile, and PUBG developer Bluehole. Tencent has also made large capital investments in Bayonetta developer PlatinumGames, and social media trash heap/meme recycler Reddit.

You may recall that Activision-Blizzard in particular came under fire last year after they stripped Blitzchung of his winnings. This was following comments made by the professional Hearthstone player which he voiced support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters. Blizzard’s move was widely condemned by the gaming community and also sparked letters of concern from a bipartisan group of US politicians.

Tencent, like most Chinese conglomerates, is known for having direct ties with the Xi Jinping’s authoritarian regime. Founder Ma Huateng currently serves in the 12th National Peoples Congress, the nation’s legislature, as a member of the Chinese Communist Party. The government has come under fire for numerous human rights abuses including its recent police action in Hong Kong, and the continued subjugation of the Uyghur people in the nation’s northwest. Something which critics have labeled a genocide.

China has also been accused of committing widespread industrial espionage against Western corporations and institutions, which has prompted the US government to raise concerns over national security. Of course the CCP is furthermore being held culpable for covering up and failing to act on the current pandemic before it got out of control.

As criticism mounts against the socialist regime, it’s likely that we’ll see more pressure from Western officials for big business to divest their Chinese interests.

Feature image by Chris Yunker via Wikipedia.