Canada Used A Huawei GPS Tracker On Huawei CFO?!

Social media has been abuzz with reports that Canada fitted Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou with a Huawei GPS ankle bracelet. Oh, the irony… the idiocy of the foolish Canadians. But is it true? Let’s find out!

 

Canada Used A Huawei GPS Tracker On Huawei CFO?!

The short answer is – NO.

it was really just a joke on Twitter that people misunderstood, and got spun as an ironic coincidence, or a nefarious cop-out by the Canadians to their Chinese overlords.

How The Huawei GPS Ankle Bracelet Story Started…

1 November 2018

Huawei Deputy Chairwoman and Chief Financial Officer of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou (also known as Sabrina Meng or Cathy Meng), was arrested by Canadian officials at the request of the United States, for allegedly breaching US sanctions on Iran.

11 December 2018

After a bail hearing from 7-11 December 2018, the Canadian court granted Meng Wanzhou bail, on these conditions :

• wear a GPS tracking device,
• surrender both of her passports, and
• provide a C$10 million (US$ 7.5 million) bond

12 December 2018

When the news broke, Patrick Chovanec (Managing Director, Chief Strategist at Silvercrest Asset Management, Adjunct Professor at Columbia SIPA, former biz prof at Tsinghua University in Beijing) posted this tweet :

Good news: Meng will have to wear a GPS ankle bracelet, while out on bail.
Bad news: It’s made by Huawei.
🤭

— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) December 12, 2018

That was the tweet that went viral, especially with people in China, with various variants of the tweet being shared on WeChat.

Eventually, people just created her own versions, without referring to Patrick Chovanec or his tweet. This led to other people assuming that it was the truth, and forwarding those messages.

Meng,the Huawei CFO was fitted with a Huawei security tracking anklet.🧐🤑😆

 

The Truth About The Huawei Ankle Bracelet Story

The fact of the matter is – it was a joke by Patrick Chovanec.

Some people saw it right away, and replied with their own jokes. But others took it seriously enough to share it as an example of Canadian / Western stupidity, or a funny bit of ironic coincidence.

In fact, Patrick later noted how stupid the whole Huawei GPS ankle bracelet drama was with an eye roll…

 

No, Huawei Does Not Make GPS Ankle Bracelets

Huawei is a massive company that makes all sorts of wearable devices, in addition to telecommunications equipment and of course, smartphones like the Huawei Mate20. However, they do NOT manufacture GPS ankle bracelets.

GPS ankle bracelets are a very niche product, with a market limited to law enforcement agencies, and third-party companies that offer monitoring services. That’s why even though Huawei makes smartbands and smartwatches with GPS tracking capabilities, you won’t find any Huawei GPS ankle bracelets for sale.

 

What GPS Tracker Is She Using?

We do not know what GPS tracker Meng Wanzhou was fitted with, but in case you want to wear one for the party tonight…

We think it is most likely a GPS ankle bracelet from SafeTracks GPS Solutions of Red Deer, Alberta. They supply GPS trackers to law enforcement agencies across Canada.

 

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