As an election looms, Australian politicians are spending more time courting voters on the Chinese social media site Weibo and the popular "super app" WeChat.

Key points: Politicians are eyeing marginal seats with high Chinese-Australian populations

Politicians are eyeing marginal seats with high Chinese-Australian populations However there are security and censorship concerns on WeChat and Weibo

However there are security and censorship concerns on WeChat and Weibo Labor claims the Liberals have circulated "deliberate misinformation" via WeChat

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen on Wednesday night held a live session on WeChat, answering questions sent in from members of the Chinese community using the app.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten held a similar session last week, during which he criticised comments made by former New South Wales Labor leader Michael Daley about "Asians with PhDs".

And even Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been active on Chinese platforms, taking to WeChat to slap down widely criticised remarks from Nationals Senator Barry O'Sullivan.

The use of Chinese social media is nothing new for Australian politicians — Kevin Rudd has been on Weibo and WeChat for years — but let's take a look at why their engagement on the platform has become more frequent, and how effective it's been.

Why are they using Chinese social media?

Labor leader Bill Shorten appears on a video published on the Chinese social media platform WeChat. ( Supplied: WeChat )

The short answer is electoral math.

Several marginal seats with large numbers of Chinese-Australian voters are up for grabs at the upcoming federal election, which could be called any day now.

The seat of Chisholm in Victoria is the big-ticket item, with both major parties putting forward two candidates with Chinese heritage — Labor's Jennifer Yang and the Liberals' Gladys Liu.

Both are active WeChat users.

Fifteen per cent of people living in that electorate speak Mandarin at home and a further 5 per cent speak Cantonese, according to Census data.

There will also be tight contests in the New South Wales seats of Banks and Reid, both of which are home to a significant number of Chinese-Australians.

Is there any problem with it?

Defence Department staff were reportedly banned from using the WeChat app on their work phones. ( Reuters: Peter Kujundzic )

Chinese social media is not policed in the same way as Western sites and apps — it is a heavily censored space, regardless of whether you use it inside or outside China.

Discussion of sensitive political issues and criticism of the Chinese Government and President Xi Jinping are frequently deleted, and accounts that regularly post such content are wiped from the platforms.

Even private messages sent between WeChat users can be monitored and censored.

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There are also data security concerns. Last year Defence Department staff were reportedly banned from using the app on their work phones.

However cyber analyst Fergus Ryan from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said the issue of censorship, and potential self-censorship, were far bigger issues.

"When Australian politicians are trying to communicate with their Chinese-Australian voters via this app, they are automatically part of the censorship apparatus that is being run out of Beijing," he said.

"It means that certain sensitive topics that Beijing doesn't like people discussing are not able to be discussed."

Mr Ryan raised the example, uncovered by a recent Human Rights Watch report, of a Canadian member of Parliament whose WeChat message on Hong Kong's pro-Democracy Umbrella Movement was deleted by censors.

While discussion of the "three Ts" — Tiananmen Square, Tibet and Taiwan — are frequent targets of censorship, recent research found discussions of the US-China trade war and the Chinese telco Huawei were the most censored topics last year.

"If anyone wanted to ask their representative or a candidate about those subjects, they wouldn't be able to easily," Mr Ryan said.

How effective has it been?

The Liberals' Gladys Liu, pictured, is competing for the seat of Chisholm in Victoria. ( Supplied )

It depends on your definition of success.

Perhaps the most famous WeChat campaign was waged during the contest for Chisholm in 2016, when Gladys Liu was a Liberal Party volunteer.

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She told the Guardian back in 2016 that a volunteer-run WeChat campaign she organised during that year's election was responsible for the victory of then-Liberal candidate Julia Banks.

But the ALP accused Ms Liu of using the platform to co-ordinate a misleading scare campaign against Labor on same sex marriage and refugees.

"In 2016 the Liberals spread outright lies to Chinese Australians about Labor policies and they are trying it again in a desperate 'fake news' scare campaign," said Labor MP Julian Hill, who represents the neighbouring seat of Bruce.

Unsurprisingly, Labor is determined not to be caught flat-footed this year, and is promising to use WeChat to fight misinformation in this year's election.

"The truth is, like any social media platform, people need to be cautious about information shared," said Mr Hill.

"By engaging directly with the community through technology such as WeChat Live people can ask questions and hear directly from Labor about our policies."

Ms Liu dismissed Labor's accusations and said she believed all materials shared during the 2016 campaign were legitimate and authorised.

"[Labor] of course would treat anything they don't want to hear as fake news," she said.

"In reality, everything that comes out of the Liberal Party's official site, everyone can go and have a look and see whether they can find any inappropriate postings."

A Coalition source said their outreach on WeChat this year would focus on bread-and-butter issues like health, education and the economy.

Labor candidate Jennifer Yang is also an active WeChat user. ( Supplied )

The Coalition also believes that many Chinese Australian voters remain hostile to Labor's plan to wind back negative gearing.

A spokesman for the Federal Government didn't comment on the Prime Minister's social media strategy but said "the Government will connect with Australians wherever they are".

So expect senior politicians from both major parties to make regular appearances on platforms like WeChat as Australians prepare to go to the polls.

Political campaigning is changing — and the evolution is unlikely to stop in 2019.

