SUMMARY 
June 5, American social media giant Facebook released a statement that it had data-sharing partnerships with four Chinese electronics manufacturers, including Huawei which had been tagged by the US intelligence community as a potential threat to national security. While the partnerships are still active, Facebook representatives said that their relationship with Huawei would be ending by the mid June. Back in to 2007, the intent of the partnerships was to encourage greater social media usage among mobile users. After being banned in 2009, Facebook has been making efforts to re-establish a presence in China. After the United States decided to no longer allow those living and working on military bases to use Huawei mobile phones, AT&T cancelled its contract with the Chinese firm in January 2018. Thus adding to the ripple affect of firms having relationships with Huawei being scrutinized in the public sphere.
FAO GLOBAL ASSESSMENT
This revelation is another jab at Chinese electronics companies due opaque, alleged, and/or proven relationships to the Chinese military or government . The reputation for being closely connected to Beijing and willing to do Chinese leaders’ bidding is a difficult public relations issue to solve, and a narrative that has been pushed by politicians and critics of China for sometime. The addition of the US intelligence community commenting on Huawei further puts those doing business with the tech behemoth in the limelight. US firms looking to partner with Chinese electronics companies should weigh their options carefully as any hint of unauthorized data sharing could be extremely damaging in the public eye, even if certain relationships are not illegal.
Related Links
- New York Times: What Facebook Shared With Chinese Hardware Companies: DealBook Briefing
- New York Times: Facebook Gave Data Access to Chinese Firm Flagged by U.S. Intelligence
- CNN Money: Facebook says it gave Huawei and other Chinese firms access to user data
- The Washington Post: Facebook granted devices from Huawei, a Chinese telecom firm, special access to social data
- Sina HK: Facebook承認與華為等中國公司共享數據 將結束合作 (Facebook admitted sharing data with Huawei, and will end their partnership)
- TechNews: 被封鎖不代表沒商機！年貢獻 1,490 億元，中國成 Facebook 第二大廣告市場 (Being blocked does not mean end of business. China became the second advertising market for Facebook)
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