While many are rightly concerned about the growing influence of video-based social media platform TikTok and the Chinese government’s ability to harvest incredible amounts of user data from it, China’s largest social media and video game studio, Tencent, has quietly gained a controlling interest. in the most popular video game companies around the world, and no one seemed to notice.
From Riot Games’ flagship Valorant title to the popular Fortnite produced by Epic Games, Tencent and the Chinese Communist Party are feeding propaganda and influencing a generation of children around the world while their parents aren’t looking.
Last week, Tencent announced that it aims to acquire a larger investment in the 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 on the company. For example, in 2021, Ubisoft made visual changes to certain games so that it could sell them in China. Changes included removing gambling symbolism and skulls from playable environments. The company was forced to cancel these changes, however, after players in North America and Europe vowed never to play the game again if the changes remained.
While the China-friendly changes to some titles were reversed after fans expressed outrage, it’s clear that game studios are increasingly worried 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 many historical games and online experiences for children who were forced to learn at home. As many gamers have noted, titles like Assassin’s Creed possess a remarkable amount of educational value with their accurate modeling of historical 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 help aid in learning.
As Ubisoft continues to improve these historical games and educational experiences, the Chinese Communist Party’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 scratch 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 launch upon booting your computer—regardless of whether the user opened the game or not—and monitor all user activity, recording which programs were used. This software broke from the industry standard and was seen as an intrusion into the privacy of the user.
While Riot Games quickly denied the allegations and changed the design of its software, many remained unconvinced. After all, this is the same company that covered up a data breach of millions of its users’ accounts. Even more alarming, in March of 2019, it was revealed 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 Chinese Communist Party. The video game company used its games to spy on Americans and used its digital content to propagandize our children. It preyed on the lack of technological literacy of parents across the country, putting their data privacy and their children’s in direct danger.
Tencent’s quiet rise to global digital dominance is one of the great threats facing American children online. From TikTok to Tencent and your child’s favorite video game, China is committed to influencing our children and stealing our private data. It is critical that parents begin to take a more active role in limiting what their children play online.
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