"Chinese tech firm Tencent seeks removal of anti-censorship archive FreeWeChat, watchdog says", Hong Kong Free Press, 17 July 2025

Chinese tech giant Tencent is seeking the removal of FreeWeChat.com, an archive developed by GreatFire [...].

The website specialises in surfacing deleted or blocked WeChat posts on politically sensitive topics.

[...] the conglomerate’s legal representative, Group-IB, accused FreeWeChat of trademark and copyright infringement, submitting a takedown complaint to the site’s hosting provider on June 12.

GreatFire have denied the claims: “They cite the use of the word ‘WeChat’ in our domain, even though FreeWeChat does not use WeChat’s logo, claim affiliation, or distribute any modified WeChat software [...].”

[...] the site was accessible as of [...] Thursday, with GreatFire saying it will not comply with the takedown order [...].

Tencent did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. However, a statement [...] from Group-IB’s CEO Dmitry Volkov on Friday said that the firm assists in cases of intellectual property misuse, brand impersonation, and copyright abuse [...]

When asked if they were seeking a full takedown of FreeWeChat, they did not directly respond [...].