North Carolina AG Says Chinese App WeChat Has Become ‘Digital Hub for Fentanyl Trafficking’

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May 29, 2025 - 10:04 Updated: May 29, 2025 - 10:00
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North Carolina AG Says Chinese App WeChat Has Become ‘Digital Hub for Fentanyl Trafficking’

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson released an Instagram video on May 27, criticizing the Chinese social media and messaging app WeChat for fueling the fentanyl crisis in the United States.

The video was a follow-up to a letter that Jackson and five other state attorneys general sent to WeChat US, Inc. earlier this month, demanding accountability from the company over concerns that fentanyl traffickers had been using the platform for money laundering.

“You have a major problem,” Jackson said, addressing WeChat directly. “Mexican cartels are using your app to clean their cash.

“They’re arranging pickups, they’re finding brokers in China to swap currency, they’re moving billions across borders in money laundering.

“All with the help of WeChat, which has become a digital hub for fentanyl trafficking.

“You are now a core part of the business model that is killing thousands of Americans a month.”

Jackson said his accusations were based on real cases, convictions, investigations, and public reports.

WeChat is owned by China-based tech conglomerate Tencent Holdings, which the Pentagon has identified as one of “Chinese military companies” operating in the United States.

Analytics firm Apptopia said in 2020 that WeChat had an average of 19 million daily active users in the United States.

Jackson suggested that WeChat is also responsible for the impact of criminals using its app.

“You’ve built a safe haven for them, and they know it,” he said.  

“So here’s what needs to happen: You need to show us the exact steps that you’re going to take to stop this, because if you are knowingly or negligently facilitating money laundering, that’s a crime.”

Aside from Jackson, the May 12 letter was signed by South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, and New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin.

The attorneys general gave 30 days, or by June 11, for WeChat to respond to their concerns, asking the company to provide information, such as relevant terms of service, community guidelines, policies, and documents.

The letter referenced the case of a Chinese national named Li Xizhi, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2021 over his role in a transnational money-laundering network spanning countries, including Belize, China, Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States. According to prosecutors, WeChat was one of the messaging platforms Li and his co-conspirators used.
In another case, in which eight companies and 12 Chinese nationals were indicted in 2023, WeChat was used to “facilitate the illegal sale of fentanyl precursor chemicals to the United States,” the letter said, citing a congressional testimony by Anne Milgram, former administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The Mexico-based Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels are known to be sourcing chemical precursors from China before these chemicals are manufactured into fentanyl.
The letter also cited a 2020 ProPublica interview with retired DEA agent Thomas Cindric, who was quoted as saying that the laundering of fentanyl trafficking proceeds “is all happening on WeChat” and the money launderers “are not concealing themselves on WeChat.”
Weiser, in a statement issued on May 12 to accompany the letter, said that “WeChat needs to provide answers and respond in a meaningful fashion.”

“I have worked tirelessly to address the opioid crisis by using every tool we can to save lives, including cracking down on the distribution of fentanyl,” Weiser said.

“That’s why I fought for legislation in Colorado, based on a report from our office, to ensure that online platforms have a greater responsibility to police their platforms and cooperate with law enforcement.”

Wilson called WeChat a “digital safe haven” for money launderers and fentanyl traffickers, in a statement issued on May 12 to accompany the letter.

“This Chinese-owned app is helping cartels push poison into our communities and move blood money across the globe. Enough is enough,” Wilson said.

“If WeChat won’t shut down these criminal operations on their platform, we’ll use every legal tool available to expose them and stop them. South Carolina will not stand by while American lives are destroyed for profit.”

The Epoch Times contacted Tencent for comment and did not receive a response by publication time.

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