Chinese tech giant, Huawei has described the report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that it helps African governments spy on political opponents, including surveillance and distributing spyware, leading to arrests and other crackdowns as unfounded and inaccurate allegations.
Several reports have quoted the Wall Street Journal alleging that Huawei’s employees crack down opposition politicians in Africa, using surveillance cameras, phone tapping, and cracking encrypted communications with spyware.
But, Huawei in a response said its code of business forbid any employee from undertaking any activities that would compromise the data or privacy of its customers or end users, or that would breach any laws.
“Huawei prides itself on its compliance with local laws and regulations in all markets where it operates and we will defend our reputation robustly against such baseless allegations. Thus, we completely reject the Wall Street Journal’s unfounded and inaccurate allegations against Huawei’s business operations in Algeria, Uganda, and Zambia,” said a Huawei spokesperson in a statement sent to Telecoms.com.
Meanwhile, some reports have alleged that this is not the first time Huawei is being accused of data compromise. Years back, it was reported that the IT and communication system at the African Union headquarters, supplied and installed by Huawei, was sending data every night from Addis Ababa to Shanghai for over four years before it was uncovered by accident.