Chinese law enforcement agencies can now secretly request access to personal information posted on social media services such as Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat, as the country shores up its ability to rein in online discourse and monitor public opinion. Starting Oct.1, authorities investigating criminal cases have the right to ask for information posted on social media including WeChat and Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, according to regulations published on Sept. 21. They can then submit the data as evidence in court…

Text messages, online chat records and blog information could be admitted as evidence in criminal cases since 2012. The country is now exploring broader legislation that will require internet network operators to provide technical support to authorities investigating crimes or potential breaches of national security.

“The breadth of duties to cooperate with authorities in investigations...is a concern, in particular given the relatively small role for judicial oversight in the procedures for conducting investigations in China,” Hogan Lovells lawyers Mark Parsons and Nolan Shaw wrote in a report…The move to allow authorities freer rein with social media content is also aimed at cracking down on fraud and blackmail, according to the state-owned China Daily…[also refers to Apple]