Chinese tech giant Tencent (makers of WeChat) and the United Nations (makers of love not war, kinda) on April 1 announced their innovative global partnership for the UN’s 75th anniversary. No one’s in the mood for April Fools right now, so we assume this is genuine.
The collaboration for the #UN75 campaign will see the partners host thousands of online conversations through VooV Meeting (Tencent Meeting’s international edition and answer to Zoom), WeChat Work, and Tencent Artificial Intelligence Simultaneous Interpretation.
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As the world now struggles to fight the coronavirus pandemic, international collaboration and cohesion are becoming increasingly crucial aspects of (daily) life. Nevertheless, the move by the UN to work this closely with a Chinese tech company will doubtless raise a few eyebrows in the US and Europe, especially given recent wrangles over Huawei.
The new platform will reach out to millions of people across the globe, in a bid to hear their thoughts on what the world should look like in 25 years. And more specifically, what responsibility a framework of international cooperation should take in tackling the pressing matters at hand, including climate change and — of course — pandemics.
Tencent will provide the #UN75 campaign with its meeting platform’s video conferencing and digital dialogue tools to support the initiative’s online outreach and promotion. Tencent Meeting currently has over 10 million daily active users, making it one of the most widely-used video conferencing applications in China.
Header image: United Nations
