“WeChat is a necessity, not a choice for many Chinese Australians,” Dr Sun and Dr Yu said. “Banning WeChat brings more damage than benefit to our democracy, since it is likely to erode rather than encourage faith in the strength of our democracy and it is likely to infringe on citizens’ rights to communicate on social media platforms. It is potentially damaging to social cohesion, and is likely to be seen as racially and politically motivated.” NSW Labor paid for advertising on Chinese social media platform WeChat before the state election. Dr Sun and Dr Yu also said it was...