Jump to content

WeChat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused withWeeChat.

WeChat/Weixin(WeChat)
Developer(s)Tencent Holdings Limited
Initial release21 January 2011;13 years ago(2011-01-21)(as Weixin)
Preview release(s)
Android8.0.47 / 1 February 2024;9 months ago(2024-02-01)[1]
Operating systemAndroid,HarmonyOS,[2]iOS,macOS,Windows,Windows Phone,WatchOS,Wear OS,MIUI
Service nameWeChat (International)[3]
Weixin (China Mainland)[4]
Available in17 languages
List of languages
Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese, Arabic, Turkish
TypeInstant messagingclient
LicenseProprietaryfreeware
Websitewechat(WeChat)
weixin.qq(Weixin)
Weixin
ChineseWeChat
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinWēixìn
Bopomofoㄨㄟ ㄒㄧㄣˋ
Wade–GilesWei1-hsin4
Tongyong PinyinWei-sìn
IPA[wéɪ.ɕîn]

WeChatorWeixinin Chinese (Chinese:WeChat;pinyin:Wēixìn(listenⓘ);lit.'micro-message')[a]is a Chineseinstant messaging,social media,andmobile paymentappdeveloped byTencent.First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018[5][6]with over 1 billion monthlyactive users.[7][8][9]WeChat has been described asChina's "app for everything" and asuper-appbecause of its wide range of functions.[10]WeChat provides text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, video conferencing, video games, mobile payment, sharing of photographs and videos and location sharing.

Accounts registered using Chinese phone numbers are managed under the Weixin brand, and their data is stored in mainland China and subject to Weixin's terms of service and privacy policy, which forbids content which "endanger[s]national security,divulge[s]state secrets,subvert[s] state power and undermine[s]national unity".[11]Non-Chinese numbers are registered under WeChat, and WeChat users are subject to a different, less strict terms of service and stricter privacy policy, and their data is stored in theNetherlandsfor users in the European Union, and inSingaporefor other users.[12][13]User activity on Weixin, the Chinese version of the app, is analyzed, tracked and shared with Chinese authorities upon request as part of themass surveillance network in China.[b]Chinese-registered Weixin accountscensor politically sensitive topics.[c][18][23]Any interactions between Weixin and WeChat users are subject to the terms of service and privacy policies of both services.[24]

History

[edit]

By 2010, Tencent had already attained a massive user base with their desktop messenger appQQ.Recognizing smart phones were likely to disrupt this status quo, CEOPony Masought to proactively invest in alternatives to their own QQ messenger app.[25]

WeChat began as a project at Tencent Guangzhou Research and Project center in October 2010.[26]The original version of the app was created byAllen Zhang,named "Weixin" (WeChat) by Pony Ma,[27]and launched in 2011. The user adoption of WeChat was initially very slow, with users wondering why key features were missing; however, after the release of theWalkie-talkie-like voice messaging feature in May of that year, growth surged.[25]By 2012, when the number of users reached 100 million, Weixin was re-branded "WeChat" by President Martin Lau for the international market.[28]

During a period of government support of e-commerce development—for example in the 12thfive-year plan(2011–2015)[29]—WeChat also saw new features enabling payments and commerce in 2013, which saw massive adoption after their virtualRed envelopepromotion forChinese New Year2014.[25]

WeChat had over 889 million monthlyactive usersby 2016, and as of 2019 WeChat's monthly active users had risen to an estimate of one billion. As of January 2022, it was reported that WeChat has more than 1.2 billion users.[30]After the launch of WeChat payment in 2013, its users reached 400 million the next year,[31][32][33]90 percent of whom were in China.[34]By comparison,Facebook MessengerandWhatsApphad about one billion monthly active users in 2016 but did not offer most of the other services available on WeChat.[6][35]For example, in Q2 2017, WeChat's revenues from social media advertising were about US$0.9 billion (RMB6 billion) compared with Facebook's total revenues of US$9.3 billion, 98% of which were from social media advertising. WeChat's revenues from its value-added services were US$5.5 billion.[36]

By 2018, WeChat had been used by 93.5% of Chinese internet users.[37]: 76 

In response to aborder disputebetween India and China, WeChat was banned in India in June 2020 along with several other Chinese apps, includingTikTok.[38][39]U.S. presidentDonald Trumpsought to ban U.S. "transactions" with WeChat through anexecutive order[40]but was blocked by a preliminary injunction issued in theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of Californiain September 2020.[41]Joe Bidenofficially dropped Trump's efforts to ban WeChat in the U.S. in June 2021.[42]

Features

[edit]

Messaging

[edit]

WeChat provides a variety of features including text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging,broadcast(one-to-many) messaging, video calls and conferencing, video games, photograph and video sharing, as well as location sharing.[43]WeChat also allows users to exchange contacts with people nearby viaBluetooth,as well as providing various features for contacting people at random if desired (if people are open to it). It can also integrate with othersocial networking servicessuch asFacebookandTencent QQ.[44]Photographs may also be embellished withfiltersand captions, andautomatic translationservice is available and could also translate the conversation during messaging.

WeChat supports different instant messaging methods, including text messages, voice messages, walkie talkie, and stickers. Users can send previously saved or live pictures and videos, profiles of other users, coupons, lucky money packages, or current GPS locations with friends either individually or in a group chat.

WeChat also provides a message recall feature[45]to allow users to recall and withdraw information (e.g. Images, documents) that are sent within 2 minutes in a conversation. To use this feature, users can select the message or file to be recalled by long pressing. In the menu that appears select 'recall' and 'ok' to complete the withdrawal process. Eventually, the selected messages or files will be removed from the WeChat chatting box on both the sender's and recipient's phones.

WeChat also provides a voice-to-text feature that brings convenience when it is not convenient to listen to voice messages, as well as the basic ability to recognize emojis based on different tones of voice, but the privacy leaks involved are also thought-provoking.

A distance sensing feature is implemented in WeChat. It has the ability to activate the receivers' hold-to-talk function when the phone was brought in close proximity to the ear. After the receiver was held at a certain distance from the ear, the sensor would then proceed to automatically disable the phone speakers. This feature eliminates the risk of the user's voice messages being inadvertently broadcast to the general public.[46]

Public accounts

[edit]

WeChat users can register as a public account (Công chúng hào), which enables them to push feeds to subscribers, interact with subscribers, and provide subscribers with services. Users can also create an official account, which fall under service, subscription, or enterprise accounts. Once users as individuals or organizations set up a type of account, they cannot change it to another type. By the end of 2014, the number of WeChat official accounts had reached 8 million.[47]Official accounts of organizations can apply to be verified (cost 300 RMB or about US$45). Official accounts can be used as a platform for services such as hospital pre-registrations,[48]or credit card service.[49]To create an official account, the applicant must register with Chinese authorities, which discourages "foreign companies".[50]In April 2022, WeChat announced that it will start displaying the location of users in China everytime they post on a public account. Meanwhile, overseas users on public accounts will also display the country based on their IP address.[51]

Moments

[edit]
Main article:Moments (social networking)

"Moments" (Bằng hữu vòng) is WeChat's brand name for its social feed of friends' updates. "Moments" is an interactive platform that allows users to post images, text, and short videos taken by users. It also allows users to share articles and music (associated withQQ Musicor other web-based music services). Friends in the contact list can like the content and leave comments, functioning similarly to a private social network.[44]

In 2017 WeChat had a policy of a maximum of two advertisements per day per Moments user.[35]

Privacy in WeChat works by groups of friends: only the friends from the user's contact are able to view their Moments' contents and comments. The friends of the user will only be able to see the likes and comments from other users only if they are in a mutual friend group. For example, friends from high school are not able to see the comments and likes from friends from a university. When users post their moments, they can separate their friends into a few groups, and they can decide whether this Moment can be seen by particular groups of people.[52]Contents posted can be set to "Private", and then only the user can view it. Unlike Weibo or Instagram, these are only shared to the user's friends. These are unlikely to go viral.

Recently, WeChat launched a new foundation that users can choose to top their posts in their own Moments. No matter how long the posts can be viewed set by users, the posts topped by them can be seen all the time. This foundation enable people to mark some important posts that it will be easy to find them. Besides, users can permanently display some posts while ensuring overall privacy.

Weixin Pay digital payment services

[edit]
Main article:WeChat Pay

Users who have provided bank account information may use the app to pay bills, order goods and services, transfer money to other users, and pay in stores if the stores have a Weixin payment option. Vetted third parties, known as "official accounts", offer these services by developing lightweight "apps within the app".[53]Users can link their Chinese bank accounts, as well asVisa,MasterCardandJCB.[54]

WeChat Pay, officially referred to as Weixin Pay (WeChat chi trả) in China, is adigital walletservice incorporated into Weixin, which allows users to performmobile paymentsand send money between contacts.[55]

Although users receive immediate notification of the transaction, the Weixin Pay system is not aninstant paymentinstrument, because the funds transfer between counterparts is not immediate.[56]The settlement time depends on the payment method chosen by the customer.

All Weixin users have their own Weixin Pay accounts. Users can acquire a balance by linking their Weixin account to their debit cards, or by receiving money from other users. For non-Chinese users of Weixin Pay, an additional identity verification process of providing a photo of a valid ID is required before certain functions of Weixin Pay become available. Users who link their credit card can only make payments to vendors, and cannot use this to top up WeChat balances. Weixin Pay can be used for digital payments, as well as payments from participating vendors.[57]As of March 2016, Weixin Pay had over 300 million users.[58]

Weixin Pay's main competitor in China and the market leader in online payments is Alibaba Group'sAlipay.Alibaba company founderJack MaconsideredWeixin's red envelopefeature to be a "Pearl Harbormoment ", as it began to erode Alipay's historic dominance in theonline paymentsindustry in China, especially in peer-to-peer money transfer. The success prompted Alibaba to launch its own version of virtual red envelopes in its competing Laiwang service. Other competitors,BaiduWallet andSina Weibo,also launched similar features.[57]

In 2019 it was reported that Weixin had overtaken Alibaba with 800 million active Weixin mobile payment users versus 520 million for Alibaba's Alipay.[35][59]However Alibaba had a 54 per cent share of the Chinese mobile online payments market in 2017 compared to Weixin's 37 per cent share.[60]In the same year, Tencent introduced "WeChat Pay HK", a payment service for users in Hong Kong. Transactions are carried out with theHong Kong dollar.[61]In 2019 it was reported that Chinese users can use WeChat Pay in 25 countries outsideChina,including,Italy,South Africaand theUK.[59]

Enterprise WeChat

[edit]

For work purposes, companies and business communication, a special version of WeChat called WeCom (formally known as Enterprise WeChat (or Qiye Weixin) and WeChat Work before Nov 2020) was launched in 2016.[62]The app was meant to help employees separate work from private life.[63]In addition to the usual chat features, the program let companies and their employees keep track of annual leave days and expenses that need to be reimbursed, employees could ask for time off or clock in to show they were at work.[63][64][65][66]

WeChat Mini Program

[edit]

In 2017, WeChat launched a feature called "Mini Programs" (Tiểu trình tự).[67]A mini program is an app within an app. Business owners can create mini apps in the WeChat system, implemented usingJavaScriptplus a proprietaryAPI.[68]Users may install these inside the WeChat app. In January 2018, WeChat announced a record of 580,000 mini programs.[69]With one Mini Program, consumers could scan the Quick Response code using their mobile phone at a supermarket counter and pay the bill through the user's WeChat mobile wallet.[29]WeChat Games have received huge popularity, with its "Jump Jump" game attracting 400 million players in less than 3 days and attaining 100 million daily active users in just two weeks after its launch, as of January 2018.[70][71][72]Ever since WeChat Mini Program's Launch, the daily active user count of WeChat Mini Programs are increasing dramatically. In 2017, there were only 160 million daily active users, however, the number reached 450 million in 2021.[73]

WeChat Channels

[edit]

In 2020, WeChat Channels were launched. They are a short video platform within WeChat that allows users to create and share short video clips and photos to their own WeChat Channel. Users of Channels can also discover content posted to other Channels by others via the in-built feed. Each post can include hashtags, a location tag, a short description, and a link to an WeChat official account article.[74]In September 2021, it was reported that WeChat Channels began allowing users to upload hour-long videos, twice of the duration limit previously imposed on all WeChat Channels videos. Comparisons are often drawn between WeChat Channels andTikTok(or Douyin) for their similarity in features.

[75]In January 2022, there were reports that WeChat is set to diversify further and place more emphasis on new products and services like WeChat Channels, amid new regulatory restrictions imposed in China.[30]

By June 2021, WeChat Channels had accumulated over 200 million users, and WeChat Channels have 500 million DAU (Daily Active Users), growing at 79% year-on -year.[76]More than 27 million people had used the platform to watch Irish boy bandWestlife's online concert in 2021, and 15 million users also viewed theShenzhou 12 spaceflight launchusing the app service.[30]

Easy Mode

[edit]

In September 2021, WeChat introduced a brand-new feature on its platform called Easy Mode. It was mainly designed for elderly people with higher readability by providing a larger font size, sharper colours, and bigger buttons.[77]Another feature provided in this update was the ability to listen to text messages. Easy Mode was released in version 8.0.14 for both iOS and Android.[78]

Guardian Mode

[edit]

Guardian Mode is a function in WeChat for protecting users under 14 years old. It was introduced to promote safety and provide security environment for WeChat users. After operating the Guardian Mode, the functions of "people nearby", "games", "search" will not be accessible in the interface. The channels function in WeChat, a video mini program, would only show contents suitable for adolescents. Additionally, WeChat users who turn on the Guardian Mode are only able to add friends through QR codes and group chats. Moreover, WeChat users would only be able to view 10 latest Moments posts and would not be able to view the 10 latest Moments posts of non-friend users under the privacy setting of Guardian Mode.

Others

[edit]

In January 2016, Tencent launched WeChat Out, aVOIPservice allowing users to call mobile phones and landlines around the world. The feature allowed purchasing credit within the app using a credit card. WeChat Out was originally only available in the United States, India, and Hong Kong, but later coverage was expanded to Thailand, Macau, Laos, and Italy.[79][80]

In March 2017, Tencent released WeChat Index. By inserting a search term in the WeChat Index page, users could check the popularity of this term in the past 7, 30, or 90 days.[81]The data was mined from data in official WeChat accounts and metrics such as social sharing, likes and reads were used in the evaluation.

In May 2017,Tencentstarted news feed and search functions for its WeChat app. TheFinancial Timesreported this was a "direct challenge to Chinese search engineBaidu".[82]

In 2017, WeChat was reported to be developing anaugmented reality (AR)platform as part of its service offering. Itsartificial intelligenceteam was working on a 3D rendering engine to create a realistic appearance of detailed objects in smartphone-based AR apps. They were also developing asimultaneous localization and mappingtechnology, which would help calculate the position of virtual objects relative to their environment, enabling AR interactions without the need for markers, such as Quick Response codes or special images.[83]

Chinese courts allow the parties to communicate with the courts via WeChat, through which parties can file lawsuits, participate in proceedings, present evidence, and listen to verdicts.[84]: 125 As of December 2019, more than 3 million parties had used WeChat for litigation.[84]: 125 

In spring 2020, WeChat users are now able to change their WeChat ID more than once, being allowed to change their username only once per year.[85][86]Prior to this, a WeChat ID could not be changed more than once.

On 17 June 2020, WeChat released a new add-on called "WeChat Nudge". The feature was first introduced in MSN Messenger 7.0, in 2005. The feature was called Buzz in Yahoo! Messenger and the feature had interoperability with MSN Messenger's Nudge. Similar to Messenger and Yahoo, users can access WeChat Nudge by double-clicking on other users' profiles in the chat. This virtually shakes user's profile photo and sends a vibration notification. Both users must have the latest Wechat update. If a user does not have the latest update they will be unable to nudge another user, but can still receive nudges. A user can only nudge another user if they have previous conversations. Newly added friends without previous messages cannot nudge each other.[87]

On January 16, 2022, a new version of WeChat has added seven major functions for the iOS 8.0.17, Android 8.0.18 or newer version users. In the function of Personal Information Authority, users can check the number of times personal information has been edited in the past year through the personal information collection list, including head portrait, name, mobile number, gender, region, personalized signature, and address.[88]

On March 30, 2022, according to the relevant laws and regulations of China, in order to prevent the risk of publicity stunts invirtual currencytransactions, the Wechat public platform standardized the official account and mini program of secondary sales of digital collections.

WeChat Business

[edit]

WeChat Business (Vi thương) is one of the latest mobile social network business model aftere-commerce,which utilizes business relationships and friendships to maintain acustomer relationship.[89]Comparing with the traditionalE-businesslikeJDandAlibaba,WeChat Business has a large range of influence and profits with less input and lower threshold, which attracts lots of people to join in WeChat business.[90]

Marketing modes

[edit]

B2C Mode

[edit]

This is the main profit mode of WeChat Business. The first one is to launch advertisements and provide services through the WeChat Official Account, which is a B2C mode. This mode has been used by many hospitals, banks, fashion brands, internet companies and personal blogs because the Official Account can access online payment, location sharing, voice messages, and mini-games. It is like a 'mini app', so the company has to hire specific staff to manage the account. By 2015, there were more than 100 million WeChat Official Accounts on this platform.[91]

B2B Mode

[edit]

WeChat salesperson in this mode is for promoting products by individuals, which belongs toC2Cmode. In this mode, individual sellers post relevant photos and messages of their agent products on the WeChat Moments or WeChat groups and sell products to their WeChat friends. Besides, they develop friendships with their customers by sending messages in festivals or write comments under their updates on WeChat moments to increase their trust. Also, continuing to communicate with the regular customers raises the 'WOF' (word-of-mouth) communications, which influences decision-making. Some WeChat businessmen already have an online shop inTaobao,but use WeChat to maintain existing customers.[92]

Existing problems

[edit]

As more and more people have joined WeChat Business, it has brought many problems. For example, some sellers have begun to sellcounterfeitluxury goods such as bags, clothes and watches. Some sellers have disguised themselves as international flight attendants or overseas students to post fake stylish photos on WeChat Moments. They then claim that they can provide overseas purchasing services but sell counterfeit luxury goods at the same price as the authentic ones.[93]Other popular products selling on WeChat are facial masks. The marketing mode is like that ofAmwaybut most goods are unbranded products which come from illegal factories making excess hormones which could have serious effects on customers' health.[94]However, it is difficult for customers to defend their rights because a large number of sellers' identities are uncertified. Additionally, the lack of any supervision mechanism in WeChat business also provides opportunities for criminals to continue this illegal behavior.[95][96]In early 2022, WeChat suspended more than a dozen NFT (non-fungible token) public accounts to clean up crypto speculation and scalping. The crackdown on NFT-related content comes from domestic digital collectibles, which cannot be resold for profit.[97]

Marketing

[edit]

Campaigns

[edit]

In a 2016 campaign, users could upload a paid photo on "Moments" and other users could pay to see the photo and comment on it. The photos were taken down each night.[98]

Collaborations

[edit]

In 2014,Burberrypartnered with WeChat to create its own WeChat apps around its fall 2014 runway show, giving users live streams from the shows.[99]Another brand,Michael Korsused WeChat to give live updates from their runway show, and later to run a photo contest "Chic Together WeChat campaign".[100]

In 2016,L'OréalChina cooperated withPapi Jiangto promote their products. Over one million people watched her first video promoting L'Oreal's beauty brand MG.[101][102]

In 2016, WeChat partnered with 60 Italian companies (WeChat had an office in Milan) who were able to sell their products and services on the Chinese market without having to get a license to operate a business in China.[103]In 2017, Andrea Ghizzoni, European director of Tencent, said that 95 percent of global luxury brands used WeChat.[103]

In 2020 Burberry and WeChat collaborated to design a shop in Shenzhen where Burberry has a flagship store, as well as an app allowing shoppers to interact with the shop digitally.[104]

Platforms

[edit]

WeChat's mobile phone app is available only toAndroidandiOS.[105]BlackBerry,Windows Phone,andSymbianphones were supported before. However, as of 22 September 2017, WeChat was no longer working on Windows Phones.[106][107]The company ceased the development of the app for Windows Phones before the end of 2017. Although Web-basedOS X[108]andWindows[109]clients exist, this requires the user to have the app installed on a supported mobile phone for authentication, and neither message roaming nor 'Moments' are provided.[110]Thus, without the app on a supported phone, it is not possible to use the web-based WeChat clients on the computer.

The company also provides WeChat for Web, aweb-based client with messaging and file transfer capabilities. Other functions cannot be used on it, such as the detection of nearby people, or interacting with Moments or Official Accounts. To use the Web-based client, it is necessary to first scan aQR codeusing the phone app. This means it is not possible to access the WeChat network if a user does not possess a suitable smartphone with the app installed.[111]

WeChat could be accessed on Windows usingBlueStacksuntil December 2014. After that, WeChat blocked Android emulators and accounts that have signed in from emulators may be frozen.[112]

There have been some reported issues with the Web client.[113]Specifically when using English, some users have experienced autocorrect, autocomplete, auto-capitalization, and auto-delete behavior as they type messages and even after the message was sent. For example, "gonna" was autocorrected to "go", the E's were auto-deleted in "need", "wechat" was auto-capitalized to "Wechat" but not "WeChat", and after the message was sent, "don't" got auto-corrected to "do not". However, the auto-corrected word(s) after the message was sent appeared on the phone app as the user had originally typed it ( "don't" was seen on the phone app whereas "do not" was seen on the Web client). Users could translate a foreign language during a conversation and the words were posted on Moments.[114]

WeChat allows group video calls.

Controversies

[edit]

State surveillance and intelligence gathering

[edit]
See also:Mass surveillance in China § Internet surveillance,andChinese intelligence activity abroad

Weixin, the Chinese version of WeChat, operates from China underChinese law,which includes strongcensorship provisionsandinterceptionprotocols.[115]Its parent company is obliged to share data with the Chinese government under theChina Internet Security LawandNational Intelligence Law.[116][117]Weixin can access and expose thetext messages,contact books,and location histories of its users.[115]Due to Weixin's popularity, theChinese governmentuses Weixin as a data source to conductmass surveillance in China.[14][15][16][118]

Some states and regions such as India,[115][119][120]Australia[121]the United States,[122]and Taiwan fear that the app poses a threat to national or regional security for various reasons.[115][123]In June 2013, the Indian Intelligence Bureau flagged WeChat for security concerns. India has debated whether or not they should ban WeChat for the possibility that too much personal information and data could be collected from its users.[119][124][125]In Taiwan, legislators were concerned that the potential exposure of private communications was a threat to regional security.

In 2016, Tencent was awarded a score of zero out of 100 in anAmnesty Internationalreport ranking technology companies on the way they implement encryption to protect the human rights of their users.[126]The report placed Tencent last out of a total of 11 companies, including Facebook, Apple, and Google, for the lack of privacy protections built into Weixin andQQ.The report found that Tencent did not make use ofend-to-end encryption,which is a system that allows only the communicating users to read the messages.[127]It also found that Tencent did not recognize online threats to human rights, did not disclose government requests for data, and did not publish specific data about its use of encryption.[128]

A September 2017 update to the platform's privacy policy detailed that log data collected by Weixin included search terms, profiles visited, and content that had been viewed within the app. Additionally, metadata related to the communications between Weixin users—including call times, duration, and location information—was also collected. This information, which was used by Tencent for targeted advertising and marketing purposes, might be disclosed to representatives of the Chinese government:[129][130]

  1. To comply with an applicable law or regulations.
  2. To comply with a court order, subpoena, or other legal process.
  3. In response to a request by a government authority, law enforcement agency, or similar body.

In May 2020,Citizen Labpublished a study which claimed that WeChat monitors foreign chats to hone its censorship algorithms.[131][132][133]

On August 14, 2020,Radio Free Asiareported that in 2019, Gao Zhigang, a citizen of Taiyuan city, Shanxi Province, China, used Weixin to forward a video to his friend Geng Guanjun in USA. Gao was later convicted on the charge of the crime ofpicking quarrels and provoking trouble,and sentenced to ten-months imprisonment. The Court documents show that China's network management and propaganda departments directly monitor Weixin users, and the Chinese police used big data facial technology to identify Geng Guanjun as an overseas democracy activist.[134]

In September 2020,Chevron Corporationmandated that its employees delete WeChat from company-issued phones.[135]

Privacy issues

[edit]

Users inside and outside of China also have expressed concern about the privacy issues of the app. Human rights activistHu Jiawas jailed for three years forsedition.He speculated that the officials of the Internal Security Bureau of theMinistry of Public Securitylistened to his voicemail messages that were directed to his friends, repeating the words displayed within the voice mail messages to Hu. Chinese authorities have further accused the Weixin app of threatening individual safety.China Central Television(CCTV), a state-run broadcaster, featured a piece in which Weixin was described as an app that helped criminals due to its location-reporting features. CCTV gave an example of such accusations through reporting the murder of a single woman who, after he attempted to rob her, was murdered by a man she met on Weixin. The location-reporting feature, according to reports, was the reason for the man knowing the victim's whereabouts. Authorities within China have linked Weixin to numerous crimes. The city ofHangzhou,for example, reported over twenty crimes related to Weixin in the span of three months.[115][136]

XcodeGhost malware

[edit]
Main article:XcodeGhost

In 2015, Apple published a list of the top 25 most popular apps infected with theXcodeGhostmalware, confirming earlier reports that version 6.2.5 of WeChat foriOSwas infected with it.[137][138][139]The malware originated in a counterfeit version ofXcode(dubbed "XcodeGhost" ), Apple's software development tools, and made its way into the compiled app through a modifiedframework.[140]Despite Apple's review process, WeChat and other infected apps were approved and distributed through theApp Store.Even though the cybersecurity companyPalo Alto Networksclaims that the malware was capable of prompting the user for their account credentials, openingURLsand reading the device'sclipboard,[141]Apple responded that the malware was not capable of doing "anything malicious" or transmitting any personally identifiable information beyond "apps and general system information" and that it had no information that suggested that this had happened.[137]In 2015 internet security companyMalwarebytesconsidered this to be the largest security breach in the App Store's history.[140]

Ban in India

[edit]

In June 2020, theGovernment of Indiabanned WeChat along with 58 other Chinese apps citing data and privacy issues,[142]in response to aborder clashbetween India and China earlier in the year.[118][143]The banned Chinese apps were "stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India," and was "hostile to national security and defense of India", claimed India'sMinistry of Electronics and Information Technology.[143]

Previous ban in Russia

[edit]

On 6 May 2017, Russia blocked access to WeChat for failing to give its contact details to the Russian communications watchdog.[144]The ban was swiftly lifted on 11 May 2017 after Tencent provided "relevant information" for registration toRoskomnadzor.[145]

In March 2023, Russia banned government officials from using messaging apps operated by foreign companies, including WeChat.[146]

Ban and injunction against ban in the United States

[edit]

On August 6, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order, invoking theInternational Emergency Economic Powers Act,seeking to ban WeChat in the U.S. in 45 days, due to its connections with the Chinese-owned Tencent. This was signed alongside a similar executive order targetingTikTokand its Chinese-ownedByteDance.[40]

The Department of Commerce issued orders on September 18, 2020, to enact the ban on WeChat and TikTok by the end of September 20, 2020, citing national security and data privacy concerns.[147][148]The measures ban the transferring of funds or processing through WeChat in the U.S. and ban any company from offering hosting, content delivery networks or internet transit to WeChat.[149]

Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of Californiaissued a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Commerce order on both TikTok and WeChat on September 20, 2020, based on respective lawsuits filed by TikTok andUS WeChat Users Alliance,citing the merits of the plaintiffs' First Amendment claims.[41]The Justice Department had previously asked Beeler to not block the order to ban the apps saying it would undermine the presidents ability to deal with threats to national security.[41]In her ruling, Beeler said that while the government had established that Chinese government activities raised significant national security concerns, it showed little evidence that the WeChat ban would address those concerns.[41]

On June 9, 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order revoking the ban on WeChat and TikTok. Instead, he directed the commerce secretary to investigate foreign influence enacted through the apps.[150]

Montana banned the installation of WeChat on government devices since June 1, 2023.[151]

Ban in Canada

[edit]

In October 2023, Canada banned WeChat on all government devices.[152]

Notorious Markets list

[edit]

In 2022, theOffice of the United States Trade Representativeadded WeChat's ecommerce ecosystem to itslistofNotorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy.[153][154][155]

2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum

[edit]

In the lead-up to the2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum,an unsuccessful attempt to enshrine anIndigenous Voice to Parliamentin theConstitution,WeChat and other popular Chinese social media platforms were criticised by both Yes and No supporters and by both Chinese and non-Chinese Australians for its excessive amount ofmisleading content about the referendum,as well as its excessive amount of posts that allegedly promoteanti-Indigenous racism.Researchers fromMonash UniversityinMelbournefound that less than one in 10 WeChat posts related to the referendum were supportive of the Yes case, most of which were paid advertisements from the official Yes campaign. The study also found that the vast majority of comments on Voice-related WeChat posts were explicitly supportive of the No case.[156]

Chinese Australiansare a very large minority group inAustralia,with many using WeChat as a social media platform. While the usage of Chinese apps such as WeChat in Australia has long been controversial over its potential links to the Chinese government, but it nevertheless is seen as a major social media platform in Australia, directly competing with Western platforms amongChinese speakers in Australia.Asvoting is compulsoryfor all Australian citizens over the age of 18, social media advertising is crucial for election campaigns in Australia. Therefore, the significance of the number of No campaign material, some of which even contained misinformation that most No supporters do not agree with, had the potential to sway the votes of Chinese Australians towards the ultimately successful No case.

Censorship

[edit]

Censorship of global issues and separation into two separate platforms

[edit]
See also:Overseas censorship of Chinese issues

Starting in 2013, reports arose that Chinese-language searches even outside China were being keyword filtered and then blocked.[19][20]This occurred on incoming traffic to China from foreign countries but also exclusively between foreign parties (the service had already censored its communications within China). In the international example of blocking, a message was displayed on users' screens: "The message"Phương nam cuối tuần"your message contains restricted words. Please check it again." These are the Chinese characters for a Guangzhou-based paper calledSouthern Weekly(or, alternatively,Southern Weekend). The next day Tencent released a statement addressing the issue saying "A small number of WeChat international users were not able to send certain messages due to a technical glitch this Thursday. Immediate actions have been taken to rectify it. We apologize for any inconvenience it has caused to our users. We will continue to improve the product features and technological support to provide a better user experience." WeChat eventually built two different platforms to avoid this problem; one for the Chinese mainland (Weixin) and one for the rest of the world (WeChat). The problem existed because WeChat's servers were all located in China and thus subjected to its censorship rules.[21][22][157]

Following the overwhelming victory of pro-democracy candidates in the2019 Hong Kong local electionsWeixin censored messages related to the election and disabled the accounts of posters in other countries such as U.S. and Canada.[158]Many of those targeted were of Chinese ancestry.[159]

In 2020, Weixin started censoring messages concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.[160]

In December 2020 Weixin blocked a post by Australian Prime MinisterScott Morrisonduring a diplomatic spat between Australia and China. In his Weixin post Morrison had criticized a doctored image posted by a Chinese diplomat and praised the Chinese-Australian community. According to Reuters the company claimed to have blocked the post for "violated regulations, including distorting historical events and confusing the public."[161]

Two censorship systems

[edit]
See also:Internet censorship in China

In 2016, theCitizen Labpublished a report saying that WeChat was using different censorship policies in mainland China and other areas. They found that:[162]

  1. Keyword filtering was only enabled for users who registered via phone numbers from mainland China;
  2. Users did not get notices anymore when messages are blocked;
  3. Filtering was more strict on group chat;
  4. Keywords were not static. Some newfound censored keywords were in response to current news events;
  5. The Internal browser in WeChat blocked Chinese accounts from accessing some websites such as gambling,Falun Gongand critical reports on China. International users were not blocked except for accessing some gambling and pornography websites.

Later, WeChat was split into Weixin (the Chinese version) and WeChat (the international version) as described in the previous section, with only Weixin being subject to censoring. Accounts registered using Chinese phone numbers are now managed under the Weixin brand, and their data is stored in mainland China and subject to Weixin's terms of service and privacy policy, which forbids content which "endanger[s]national security,divulge[s]state secrets,subvert[s] state power and undermine[s]national unity".[11]Non-Chinese numbers are registered under WeChat, and WeChat users are subject to a different, less strict terms of service and stricter privacy policy, and their data is stored in theNetherlandsfor users in the European Union, and inSingaporefor other users.[12][13]

Censorship in Iran

[edit]
See also:Internet censorship in Iran

In September 2013, WeChat was blocked in Iran. The Iranian authorities cited WeChat Nearby (Friend Radar) and the spread of pornographic content as the reason of censorship.

The Committee for Determining Instances of Criminal Content (a working group under the supervision of the attorney general) website FAQ says:[163][164]

Because WeChat collects phone data and monitors member activity and because app developers are outside of the country and not cooperating, this software has been blocked, so you can use domestic applications for cheap voice calls, video calls and messaging.

On 4 January 2018, WeChat was unblocked in Iran.[165]

Crackdown on LGBTQ accounts in China

[edit]
Further information:LGBT rights in China

On July 6, 2021, several Weixin accounts associated with China's university campusesLGBTQmovement were blocked and then deleted without warning; the official media said they had no knowledge of this. Some of the accounts, which consisted of a mix of registered student clubs and unofficial grassroots groups had operated for years as safe spaces forChina's LGBTQyouth, with tens of thousands of followers. Many of the closed Weixin accounts display messages saying that they had "violated" Internet regulations, without giving further details, with account names being deleted and replaced with "unnamed", with a notice claiming that all content was blocked and accounts were suspended after receiving relevant complaints. TheU.S. State Departmentexpressed concern that the accounts were deleted when they were merely expressing their views, exercising their right to freedom of expression and freedom of speech. Several groups that had their accounts deleted spoke out against the ban with one stating "[W]e hope to use this opportunity to start again with a continued focus on gender and society, and to embrace courage and love".[166][167][168][169]

In August 2023, immediately prior to theQixi Festival,Weixin launched a mass closure of accounts related to LGBT rights andfeminism.[170]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^Weixin (the Chinese version) and WeChat (the non-Chinese version) are interoperable, but have different terms of service and privacy policies, as described below.
  2. ^[14][15][16][17][18]
  3. ^[19][20][21][22]

References

[edit]
  1. ^"WeChat APKs".APKMirror.Android Police. 19 November 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 12 December 2017.Retrieved12 December2017.
  2. ^Benjamin (8 October 2024)."Exclusive – Official WeChat, Huawei HarmonyOS Native Edition, has started internal testing invitations for 1000 users".HarmonyOSHub.Retrieved8 October2024.
  3. ^"WECHAT – TERMS OF SERVICE".
  4. ^"Service Agreement".
  5. ^It's time for messaging apps to quit the bullshit numbers and tell us how many users are activeArchived29 July 2014 at theWayback Machine.techinasia. 23 January 2014. Steven Millward.
  6. ^ab"WeChat's world".The Economist.16 August 2016.ISSN0013-0613.Archivedfrom the original on 1 April 2020.Retrieved8 August2016.
  7. ^"WeChat now has over 1 billion active monthly users worldwide · TechNode".TechNode.5 March 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 7 April 2019.Retrieved5 March2018.
  8. ^"Tencent's Profit Is Better Than Expected".Bloomberg.15 November 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 15 November 2017.Retrieved15 November2017.
  9. ^"WeChat users pass 900 million as app becomes integral part of Chinese lifestyle".The Drum.Archivedfrom the original on 16 November 2017.Retrieved16 November2017.
  10. ^"How WeChat Became China's App For Everything".Fast Company.2 January 2017. Archived fromthe originalon 3 January 2017.Retrieved4 January2017.
  11. ^ab"Agreement on Software License and Service of Tencent Weixin".weixin.qq.Retrieved12 March2023.
  12. ^ab"WeChat - Terms of Service".wechat.Retrieved3 March2023.
  13. ^ab"Tencent draws a clearer line between international and Chinese WeChat users".South China Morning Post.7 September 2021.Retrieved3 March2023.
  14. ^abCockerell, Isobel (9 May 2019)."Inside China's Massive Surveillance Operation".Wired.ISSN1059-1028.Archivedfrom the original on 22 June 2019.Retrieved22 June2019.
  15. ^abDou, Eva (8 December 2017)."Jailed for a Text: China's Censors Are Spying on Mobile Chat Groups".The Wall Street Journal.Archivedfrom the original on 22 June 2019.Retrieved22 June2019.
  16. ^abMcDonell, Stephen (7 June 2019)."WeChat and the Surveillance State".BBC.Archivedfrom the original on 21 June 2019.Retrieved22 June2019.
  17. ^Người giám thị から hỗn hợp hình giám thị へ siêu vạn năng WeChat の Trung Quốc をモデルにする Bắc triều tiên ( 3/3 ).KoreaWorldTimes(in Japanese). 7 August 2019.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved1 June2020.
  18. ^abDeibert, Ronald."Opinion | WeChat users outside China face surveillance while training censorship algorithms".Washington Post.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved5 July2020.
  19. ^ab"China: World Leader of Internet Censorship".Human Rights Watch.3 June 2011.Archivedfrom the original on 9 April 2018.Retrieved14 March2018.
  20. ^abSonnad, Nikki (17 April 2017)."What happens when you try to send politically sensitive messages on WeChat".Quartz (publication).Archivedfrom the original on 5 March 2018.Retrieved14 March2018.
  21. ^abMillward, Steven (10 January 2013)."Now China's WeChat App is Censoring Its Users Globally".Tech in Asia.Archivedfrom the original on 15 December 2017.Retrieved12 December2017.
  22. ^abMuncaster, Phil (11 January 2013)."China censors chat users outside China".The Register.Archivedfrom the original on 12 November 2017.Retrieved12 December2017.
  23. ^Knockel, Jeffrey; Parsons, Christopher; Ruan, Lotus; Xiong, Ruohan; Crandall, Jedidiah; Deibert, Ron (7 May 2020)."We Chat, They Watch: How International Users Unwittingly Build up WeChat's Chinese Censorship Apparatus".The Citizen Lab.Archivedfrom the original on 21 August 2020.Retrieved5 July2020.
  24. ^What is the difference between a WeChat user and a Weixin user?
  25. ^abcIris Deng, Celia Chen (16 August 2018)."How WeChat became China's everyday mobile app".South China Morning Post.Archivedfrom the original on 4 February 2022.Retrieved3 February2022.
  26. ^Loretta Chao, Paul Mozur (19 November 2012)."Zhang Xiaolong, Wechat founder".The Wall Street Journal.Archived fromthe originalon 27 November 2012.Retrieved2 December2012.
  27. ^WeChat tiến hành khi: Tích lũy đầy đủ lực lượng.Vòng quanh trái đất doanh nhân.13 January 2012.Archivedfrom the original on 16 November 2018.Retrieved3 December2012.
  28. ^Chen, Xiaomeng ( trần tiểu mông ) (7 November 2012).WeChat: Đi ra Trung Quốc, đi hướng thế giới?.36 khắc.Archivedfrom the original on 10 November 2012.Retrieved3 December2012.
  29. ^ab"E-commerce in China; Industry Report"(PDF).ECOVIS R&G Consulting Ltd. (Beijing) and Advantage Austria.2015. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 18 October 2017.Retrieved12 December2017.
  30. ^abc"Diversity is key for WeChat to overcome regulatory restrictions".KrASIA.7 January 2022.Archivedfrom the original on 11 January 2022.Retrieved11 January2022.
  31. ^Millward, Steven (18 March 2015)."WeChat now has 500 million monthly active users".Tech in Asia.Archivedfrom the original on 19 November 2017.Retrieved12 December2017.
  32. ^Millward, Steven (12 August 2015)."WeChat rockets to 600M monthly users".Tech in Asia.Archivedfrom the original on 17 November 2017.Retrieved12 December2017.
  33. ^Custer, C. (18 April 2016)."WeChat blasts past 700 million monthly active users, tops China's most popular apps".Tech in Asia.Archivedfrom the original on 25 August 2017.Retrieved12 December2017.
  34. ^"WeChat breaks 700 million monthly active users".BI Intellegence.Business Insider. 20 April 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 27 July 2016.Retrieved8 August2016.
  35. ^abcYang, Yuan (18 May 2017)."Tencent scores with domination of mobile gaming".FinancialTimes.p. 15.Archivedfrom the original on 23 July 2017.Retrieved18 May2017.
  36. ^Liu, Yujing (3 October 2017)."Tencent eyes US for new growth in social media ad business".South China Morning Post.Archivedfrom the original on 10 November 2017.Retrieved11 November2017.
  37. ^Shi, Song (2023).China and the Internet: Using New Media for Development and Social Change.New Brunswick, NJ:Rutgers University Press.ISBN9781978834736.
  38. ^Sharma, Kiran (4 August 2020)."Indian apps soar after ban on China's TikTok, WeChat and Baidu: Relations soured by Ladakh clash force Modi to refocus economic struggle".The Nikkei.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved6 August2020.
  39. ^"From TikTok to PUBG, India Has Banned 224 Chinese Apps Till Now in Three Months".India News, India.2 September 2020.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved19 September2020.
  40. ^abArbel, Tali (6 August 2020)."Trump bans dealings with Chinese owners of TikTok, WeChat".Associated Press.Archivedfrom the original on 7 August 2020.Retrieved6 August2020.
  41. ^abcdShepardson, David (20 September 2020)."U.S. judge blocks Commerce Department order to remove WeChat from app stores".Reuters.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved20 September2020.
  42. ^Allyn, Bobby (9 June 2021)."Biden Drops Trump's Ban on TikTok And WeChat — But Will Continue The Scrutiny".NPR.Retrieved3 March2023.
  43. ^How China Is Changing Your Internet - The New York TimesonYouTubePublished on 9 August 2016
  44. ^ab"Welcome to WeChat".WeChat.Archivedfrom the original on 12 December 2017.Retrieved12 December2017.
  45. ^"Take it back with Message Recall on WeChat 5.3.1".Nationthailand.12 August 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 26 August 2021.Retrieved26 August2021.
  46. ^Yang, Xiaoming; Sun, Sunny Li; Lee, Ruby P. (December 2016)."Micro-Innovation Strategy: The Case of WeChat".Asian Case Research Journal.20(2): 401–427.doi:10.1142/S0218927516500152.ISSN0218-9275.
  47. ^Fang, Yu ( phương vũ ) (4 November 2014).WeChat công chúng hào đã tiến vào tiêu xứng kỳ.Archived fromthe originalon 12 March 2015.Retrieved10 March2015.
  48. ^Bắc Kinh 8 gia bệnh viện năm nội đẩy ra WeChat đăng ký phục vụ nhưng quải chuyên gia hào.people.cn.Archivedfrom the original on 2 April 2015.Retrieved28 March2015.
  49. ^Thẻ tín dụng trí năng "Hơi khách phục".Archivedfrom the original on 1 July 2017.Retrieved30 June2017.
  50. ^Graziani, Thomas (11 December 2019)."WeChat Official Account: a simple guide".Walkthechat.Archivedfrom the original on 2 February 2020.Retrieved12 March2020.
  51. ^"Tencent's WeChat to reveal user locations on public account posts".Reuters.29 April 2022.Archivedfrom the original on 1 May 2022.Retrieved1 May2022.
  52. ^Ngươi không biết WeChat bằng hữu vòng phân tổ quyền hạn chân tướng - mỗi người đều là sản phẩm giám đốc.woshipm(in Simplified Chinese).Archivedfrom the original on 4 July 2017.Retrieved30 June2017.
  53. ^Chan, Connie (6 August 2015)."When One App Rules Them All: The Case of WeChat and Mobile in China".Andreessen Horowitz.Archivedfrom the original on 10 November 2018.
  54. ^"You Can Now Add a Foreign Credit Card on WeChat".25 January 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 19 July 2019.Retrieved26 January2018.
  55. ^"WeChat now supports payments between users and one-click payments | Finance Magnates".Fin Tech | Finance Magnates.24 June 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 4 March 2016.Retrieved13 December2015.
  56. ^European Central Bank (24 February 2018)."Definition of instant payment system".Archivedfrom the original on 9 September 2018.Retrieved11 September2018.
  57. ^ab"How Social Cash Made WeChat The App For Everything".Fast Company.Archived fromthe originalon 3 January 2017.Retrieved4 January2017.
  58. ^Sun, Eric (22 April 2016)."WeChat Pay invests USD 15 M to support its service providers".AllChinaTech.Archived fromthe originalon 24 April 2016.Retrieved12 December2017.
  59. ^abJason (14 April 2019)."WeChat Pay UK - What's The Future Of WeChat Payments".QPSoftware.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved18 September2019.
  60. ^Chandler, Clay (13 May 2017)."Tencent and Alibaba Are Engaged in a Massive Battle in China".Fortune.Archivedfrom the original on 12 November 2017.Retrieved11 November2017.
  61. ^Yeung, Raymond."Contactless competition: WeChat Pay is coming to the MTR".South China Morning Post.Archivedfrom the original on 4 August 2018.Retrieved13 October2018.
  62. ^"Everything You Should Know About WeChat Work (WeCom)".chooseoxygen.Retrieved16 November2023.
  63. ^abLopez, Napier (18 April 2016)."WeChat just launched a Slack competitor, but there's a catch".The Next Web.Archivedfrom the original on 6 May 2016.Retrieved5 May2016.
  64. ^"WeChat Enterprise could be the app to take down Slack".Digital Trends.18 April 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 22 April 2016.Retrieved5 May2016.
  65. ^Hook, Leslie."Tencent's WeChat uses its muscle to appeal to business users".Financial Times.ISSN0307-1766.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved5 May2016.
  66. ^Osawa, Juro (18 April 2016)."Tencent Targets Corporate Clients With Enterprise We Chat Launch".Wall Street Journal.ISSN0099-9660.Archivedfrom the original on 19 December 2016.Retrieved1 January2017.
  67. ^Russell, Jon (9 January 2017)."China's Tencent takes on the App Store with launch of 'mini programs' for WeChat".TechCrunch.Archivedfrom the original on 7 February 2017.Retrieved5 February2017.
  68. ^"Brief Tutorial - WeChat Open Platform".open.wechat.Archivedfrom the original on 16 February 2018.Retrieved12 May2020.
  69. ^Jiang, Sijia (15 January 2018)."China's WeChat plans to resurrect tipping button after agreement with Apple".Reuters.Archivedfrom the original on 22 August 2021.Retrieved21 August2021.
  70. ^"Chinese company takes aim at Apple & Google app stores with WeChat app".thenews.pk.Archivedfrom the original on 22 February 2018.Retrieved21 February2018.
  71. ^"This addictive mobile game hooked 100 million users in just two weeks".South China Morning Post.Archivedfrom the original on 16 January 2018.Retrieved16 January2018.
  72. ^"How WeChat became the primary news source in China".Columbia Journalism Review.Archivedfrom the original on 16 January 2018.Retrieved16 January2018.
  73. ^"WeChat: DAUs of WeChat Mini Programs 2021".Statista.Archivedfrom the original on 3 December 2022.Retrieved3 December2022.
  74. ^"WeChat Channels: Create Channels & Link to Official Account".AdChina.io.31 March 2021.Archivedfrom the original on 11 January 2022.Retrieved11 January2022.
  75. ^"WeChat video hào dài nhất nhưng tuyên bố 1 giờ video, này có thể hấp dẫn càng nhiều nội dung sáng tác giả sao? | giao diện tin tức · khoa học kỹ thuật".jiemian(in Chinese).Archivedfrom the original on 11 January 2022.Retrieved11 January2022.
  76. ^"WeChat Channels: is it worth your attention?".WalkTheChat.31 August 2022.Retrieved23 August2024.
  77. ^"Tencent's WeChat adds elder-friendly mode per regulator's request".PingWest.Archivedfrom the original on 7 November 2022.Retrieved24 August2022.
  78. ^"WeChat, là một cái cách sống".weixin.qq.Archivedfrom the original on 26 June 2022.Retrieved24 August2022.
  79. ^"In direct challenge to Skype, WeChat now lets users call mobile phones and landlines | VentureBeat".venturebeat.6 January 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 18 October 2017.Retrieved22 September2017.
  80. ^Tencent, IBG (12 May 2016).""WeChat Out" VOIP Feature Now Rapidly Expanding Around the World | WeChat Blog: Chatterbox ".WeChat Blog: Chatterbox.Archivedfrom the original on 1 October 2017.Retrieved22 September2017.
  81. ^Liping, Zhang (24 March 2017)."'WeChat Index' Opens Opaque Social Network Up to Marketers ".Sixth Tone.Archivedfrom the original on 23 October 2017.Retrieved12 December2017.
  82. ^Yang, Yuang; Yang, Yingzhi (18 May 2017)."Tencent pushes into news feed and search in challenge to Baidu".Financial Times.United Kingdom.Archivedfrom the original on 21 May 2017.Retrieved18 May2017.
  83. ^"Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem".techinasia.Archivedfrom the original on 24 September 2017.Retrieved23 September2017.
  84. ^abŠimalčík, Matej (2023). "Rule by Law". In Kironska, Kristina; Turscanyi, Richard Q. (eds.).Contemporary China: a New Superpower?.Routledge.ISBN978-1-03-239508-1.
  85. ^jknotts (13 June 2020)."What's New WeChat: ID Changes Allowed Once per Year, New Algorithms, and Kuaidi Tracking".the Bắc Kinh er.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved16 July2020.
  86. ^"How do I view or set my WeChat ID?".help.wechat.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved16 July2020.
  87. ^"Wechat Nudge".Medium.1 July 2020.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved3 September2020.
  88. ^Võng dễ (16 January 2022)."iOS WeChat 8.0.17 tân phiên bản tuyên bố, gia tăng rồi này 7 cái tân công năng".163.Retrieved21 August2023.
  89. ^Yang, Shuai; Chen, Si xing; Li, Bin (15 July 2016). "The Role of Business and Friendships on WeChat Business: An Emerging Business Model in China".Journal of Global Marketing.29(4): 174–187.doi:10.1080/08911762.2016.1184363.ISSN0891-1762.S2CID156797774.
  90. ^Zhixiao, Wang.Thiển nói di động lẫn nhau liên thời đại vi thương gây dựng sự nghiệp -【 duy phổ võng 】- cất vào kho thức tại tuyến tác phẩm xuất bản ngôi cao - cqvip.cqvip.cqvip.Archivedfrom the original on 16 March 2018.Retrieved13 March2018.
  91. ^Chan, Connie (6 August 2015)."When One App Rules Them All: The Case of WeChat and Mobile in China".Andreessen Horowitz.Archivedfrom the original on 10 November 2018.Retrieved7 March2018.
  92. ^Peng, Yubing ( Bành vũ băng ) (2014).Luận vi thương định nghĩa cùng hiện trạng -【 duy phổ võng 】- cất vào kho thức tại tuyến tác phẩm xuất bản ngôi cao - cqvip.cqvip.12X( trí phú thời đại ): 29.Archivedfrom the original on 16 March 2018.Retrieved6 March2018.
  93. ^Jasmine, Lu (15 January 2014)."From Handbags To Wine, China's Luxury Counterfeiters Flee To WeChat | Jing Daily".Jing Daily.Archivedfrom the original on 16 March 2018.Retrieved14 March2018.
  94. ^C, Custer (13 April 2015)."Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem".techinasia.No. techinasia. techinasia.Archivedfrom the original on 16 March 2018.Retrieved14 March2018.
  95. ^Về "Vi thương" mua sắm duy quyền khó dẫn phát tự hỏi —— lấy WeChat ngôi cao vì lệ.Hiện đại thương nghiệp(2): 29–30. 2015.Archivedfrom the original on 16 March 2018.Retrieved14 March2018.
  96. ^Weng, Chuzhe ( ông súc triết ) (2015).Căn cứ vào vi thương phát triển hiện trạng tầm nhìn hạn hẹp vi thương tương lai phát triển -【 duy phổ võng 】- cất vào kho thức tại tuyến tác phẩm xuất bản ngôi cao - cqvip.cqvip.3( thương trường hiện đại hoá ): 79–80.Archivedfrom the original on 16 March 2018.Retrieved14 March2018.
  97. ^"WeChat suspends a dozen NFT public accounts to clean up crypto speculation".South China Morning Post.31 March 2022.Archivedfrom the original on 26 April 2022.Retrieved26 April2022.
  98. ^WeChat bằng hữu vòng tân công năng thật sẽ chơi: Phát bao lì xì mới có thể xem ảnh chụp | Lôi Phong võng.26 January 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 8 July 2017.Retrieved11 May2017.
  99. ^Mau, Dhani (10 August 2015)."HOW WESTERN FASHION BRANDS ARE USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN CHINA".Fashionista.Archivedfrom the original on 18 October 2017.Retrieved5 May2016.
  100. ^"Michael Kors' WeChat Selfie Competition Shows New York Heritage".Jing Daily.4 May 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 8 May 2016.Retrieved5 May2016.
  101. ^Mỹ tức giành trước một bước "Thông đồng" papi tương L'Oréal phá được Trung Quốc nhãn hiệu thu mua tức hủy diệt ma chú sao _ tụ mỹ lệ.jumeili.cn(in Simplified Chinese).Archivedfrom the original on 18 October 2017.Retrieved11 May2017.
  102. ^Doland, Angela (2017)."Papi Jiang, Video Blogger, Comedian".AdAge.Archivedfrom the original on 20 May 2017.Retrieved18 May2017.
  103. ^abMurgia, Madhumita (31 March 2017)."WeChat offers UK groups platform to sell goods in China".Financial Times.p. 18.Archivedfrom the original on 5 May 2017.Retrieved31 March2017.
  104. ^Block, India (2 August 2020)."Burberry and Tencent on interactive WeChat Shop in Shenzhen".dezeen.Archivedfrom the original on 9 January 2023.Retrieved8 January2023.
  105. ^"WeChat App".Archived fromthe originalon 28 January 2019.Retrieved28 January2019.
  106. ^"WeChat is not working on Windows Phone anymore".22 September 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 28 January 2019.Retrieved28 January2019.
  107. ^"WeChat is dropping its Windows Phone app".21 July 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 28 January 2019.Retrieved28 January2019.
  108. ^Mittal Mandalia (28 February 2014)."WeChat announces native Mac client; Windows version may follow soon".techienews.co.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 7 March 2014.Retrieved6 March2014.
  109. ^"WeChat for Windows".Archivedfrom the original on 14 July 2015.Retrieved17 May2015.
  110. ^Đổ bộ vẫn như cũ yêu cầu di động rà quét mã QR(in Simplified Chinese).SohuIT. 27 February 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 17 July 2014.Retrieved18 June2014.
  111. ^"Web WeChat".qq.Archivedfrom the original on 15 March 2015.Retrieved28 March2015.
  112. ^An trác bắt chước khí bị toàn diện phong sát WeChat mở ra tính lại dẫn nghi ngờ.Archivedfrom the original on 19 January 2015.Retrieved17 May2015.
  113. ^Zhang, Xin; Dai, Si (29 November 2015)."The Functionalities of Mobile Applications, Case Study: WeChat (Thesis)"(PDF).Lahti University of Applied Sciences.Lahti, Finland: Faculty of Business Studies' Degree programme in Business Information Technology. p. 39.Archived(PDF)from the original on 18 October 2017.Retrieved18 May2017.
  114. ^Nay, Josh Robert (27 May 2015)."WeChat Version 6.2 for iOS and Android Brings Moments Translation, Chat Log Migration, and More".TruTower.Archivedfrom the original on 5 July 2017.Retrieved18 May2017.
  115. ^abcdeNicola Davison (7 December 2012)."WeChat: the Chinese social media app that has dissidents worried".the Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on 2 April 2015.Retrieved28 March2015.
  116. ^Cimpanu, Catalin (9 February 2019)."China's cybersecurity law update lets state agencies 'pen-test' local companies".ZDNet.Archivedfrom the original on 9 March 2021.Retrieved31 October2020.
  117. ^Mohan, Geeta (27 July 2020)."How China's Intelligence Law of 2017 authorises global tech giants for espionage".India Today.Archivedfrom the original on 20 January 2021.Retrieved31 October2020.
  118. ^abStilgherrian (29 June 2020)."China's influence via WeChat is 'flying under the radar' of most Western democracies".ZDNet.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved6 July2020.
  119. ^ab"WeChat is a threat to national security claim researchers - ParityNews".ParityNews.Archivedfrom the original on 11 April 2015.Retrieved28 March2015.
  120. ^Lyer, Maitrayee (9 June 2014)."WeChat introduces Friends Radar to add friends to your list with a tap".Latest Tech News, Video & Photo Reviews.BGR India. Archived fromthe originalon 6 March 2016.Retrieved8 August2016.
  121. ^"Australia's Defence Department bans WeChat".11 March 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 23 April 2018.Retrieved23 April2018.
  122. ^"China's tech giants struggle with data privacy amid push into US".5 January 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 23 April 2018.Retrieved23 April2018.
  123. ^"The WeChat revolution: China's 'killer app' for mass communication".NDTV Gadgets.12 March 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 2 April 2015.Retrieved28 March2015.
  124. ^"Chinese Mobile Messaging App WeChat Still A Big Worry For The Indian Government".lighthouseinsights.in.Archivedfrom the original on 31 May 2015.Retrieved28 March2015.
  125. ^Parker, Emily."The popularity of WeChat in China raises the question: why not in the U.S.?".Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved23 April2018.
  126. ^Grigg, Angus (22 February 2018)."WeChat's privacy issues mean you should delete China's No. 1 messaging app".The Australian Financial Review.Archivedfrom the original on 9 February 2019.Retrieved9 December2018.
  127. ^Greenburg, Andy."Hacker Lexicon: What Is End-to-End Encryption?".Wired.Archivedfrom the original on 23 December 2015.Retrieved2 March2018.
  128. ^"Document".amnesty.org.20 October 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 21 September 2017.Retrieved21 September2017.
  129. ^Mukherjee, Riddhi (18 September 2017)."It's official, WeChat shares private user data with the Chinese government".medianama.Archivedfrom the original on 21 September 2017.Retrieved20 September2017.
  130. ^"WeChat - Privacy Policy".WeChat.Archivedfrom the original on 22 December 2017.Retrieved12 December2017.
  131. ^Xiao, Eva (8 May 2020)."China's WeChat Monitors Foreign Users to Refine Censorship at Home".The Wall Street Journal.ISSN0099-9660.Archivedfrom the original on 9 May 2020.Retrieved9 May2020.
  132. ^"Study: WeChat Content Outside China Used for Censorship".The New York Times.Associated Press.7 May 2020.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved9 May2020.
  133. ^Mudie, Luisetta, ed. (11 August 2020)."WeChat 'Extends China's Internet' to Wherever Users Are in The World".Radio Free Asia.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved12 August2020.
  134. ^Xiaoshan, Huang; Wen, Cheng."New evidence showing Tencent monitors overseas users".Archived fromthe originalon 16 August 2020.Retrieved15 August2020.
  135. ^"Chevron Asks Global Employees to Delete WeChat After Trump Ban".Bloomberg News.23 September 2020.Archivedfrom the original on 30 September 2020.Retrieved28 September2020.
  136. ^"Tencent's WeChat is a Threat to Everyone".Tech in Asia.Archivedfrom the original on 23 June 2015.Retrieved28 March2015.
  137. ^ab"XcodeGhost Q&A".Apple.23 September 2015.Archivedfrom the original on 27 September 2015.Retrieved24 September2015.
  138. ^Claud, Xiao (17 September 2015)."Novel Malware XcodeGhost Modifies Xcode, Infects Apple iOS Apps and Hits App Store".Palo Alto Networks.Archivedfrom the original on 25 September 2015.Retrieved24 September2015.
  139. ^Claud, Xiao (18 September 2015)."Malware XcodeGhost Infects 39 iOS Apps, Including WeChat, Affecting Hundreds of Millions of Users".Palo Alto Networks.Archivedfrom the original on 24 September 2015.Retrieved24 September2015.
  140. ^abReed, Thomas (21 September 2015)."XcodeGhost malware infiltrates App Store".Malwarebytes.Archivedfrom the original on 25 September 2015.Retrieved24 September2015.
  141. ^Claud, Xiao (18 September 2015)."Update: XcodeGhost Attacker Can Phish Passwords and Open URLs through Infected Apps".Palo Alto Networks.Archivedfrom the original on 23 September 2015.Retrieved24 September2015.
  142. ^Rahul Shrivastava (29 June 2020)."Govt bans 59 Chinese apps including TikTok as border tensions simmer in Ladakh".India Today.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved29 June2020.
  143. ^abAbi-Habib, Maria (29 June 2020)."India Bans Nearly 60 Chinese Apps, Including TikTok and WeChat".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved6 July2020.
  144. ^"Russia blocks Chinese social media app WeChat".Reuters.6 May 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved24 August2020.
  145. ^Zhou, Xin (11 May 2017)."Russia unblocks China social media app WeChat".South China Morning Post.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved15 September2020.Telecoms authority announces reversal after company provided 'relevant information' for registration
  146. ^"Russian Government Bans Foreign Messaging Apps".Infosecurity.2 March 2023.
  147. ^Shepardson, David (18 September 2020)."EXCLUSIVE-Trump to block U.S. downloads of TikTok, WeChat on Sunday- officials".Reuters.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved18 September2020.
  148. ^Kelly, Makena (18 September 2020)."Trump to ban US TikTok and WeChat app store downloads on September 20th".The Verge.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved18 September2020.
  149. ^"Commerce Department Prohibits WeChat and TikTok Transactions to Protect the National Security of the United States".18 September 2020.Archivedfrom the original on 20 September 2020.Retrieved18 September2020.
  150. ^"Biden revokes Trump bans on TikTok and WeChat".9 June 2021.Archivedfrom the original on 22 October 2021.Retrieved9 June2021.
  151. ^"Montana bans Telegram, WeChat, and Temu from government devices".The Verge.17 May 2023.
  152. ^"Canada bans Chinese app WeChat from government devices".BBC News.30 October 2023.Retrieved1 November2023.
  153. ^Singh, Kanishka (18 February 2022)."U.S. adds e-commerce sites operated by Tencent, Alibaba to 'notorious markets' list".Reuters.Archivedfrom the original on 19 February 2022.Retrieved18 February2022.
  154. ^Swanson, Ana (17 February 2022)."The U.S. adds WeChat and AliExpress to a list of notorious piracy markets".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archivedfrom the original on 19 February 2022.Retrieved19 February2022.
  155. ^"USTR Releases 2021 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy".United States Trade Representative.Archivedfrom the original on 19 February 2022.Retrieved18 February2022.
  156. ^"Concerns many Chinese Australians will vote No after seeing one side of the Voice argument on WeChat".ABC News.6 October 2023.
  157. ^Millward, Steven (11 January 2013)."Tencent Responds in Case of Apparent WeChat Censorship".Tech in Asia.Archivedfrom the original on 13 December 2017.Retrieved12 December2017.
  158. ^Blackwell, Tom (4 December 2019)."Censored by a Chinese tech giant? Canadians using WeChat app say they're being blocked".National Post.Archivedfrom the original on 4 December 2019.Retrieved9 December2019.
  159. ^Schiffer, Zoe."WeChat keeps banning Chinese Americans for talking about Hong Kong".The Verge.Archivedfrom the original on 3 March 2020.Retrieved25 November2019.
  160. ^Zhou, Cissy (3 March 2020)."How WeChat censored even neutral messages about the coronavirus in China".South China Morning Post.Archivedfrom the original on 14 March 2020.Retrieved15 March2020.
  161. ^Needham, Kirsty (2 December 2020)."China's WeChat blocks Australian PM in doctored image dispute".Reuters.Reuters.Archivedfrom the original on 5 December 2020.Retrieved7 December2020.
  162. ^Ruan, Lotus; Knockel, Jeffrey; Ng, Jason Q.; Crete-Nishihata, Masashi (30 November 2016)."One App, Two Systems: How WeChat uses one censorship policy in China and another internationally".Citizen Lab.Archivedfrom the original on 2 December 2016.Retrieved3 December2016.
  163. ^"Iran bans another social network, blocks WeChat messaging app".Archivedfrom the original on 18 October 2017.Retrieved10 July2017.
  164. ^کارگروه تعیین مصادیق محتوای مجرمانه - Internet.ir(in Persian). 24 December 2013. Archived fromthe originalon 24 December 2013.Retrieved10 July2017.
  165. ^فیلتر پیامرسان 'ویچت' در ایران برداشته شد.BBC Persian(in Persian). 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 5 January 2018.Retrieved7 January2018.
  166. ^"China divided as WeChat deletes LGBT accounts from platform".BBC. 8 July 2021.Archivedfrom the original on 8 July 2021.Retrieved8 July2021.
  167. ^"Outrage over crackdown on LGBTQ WeChat accounts in China".The Guardian.8 July 2021.Archivedfrom the original on 8 July 2021.Retrieved8 July2021.
  168. ^"WeChat deletes dozens of university LGBT accounts in China".CNN. 8 July 2021.Archivedfrom the original on 8 July 2021.Retrieved8 July2021.
  169. ^Yang, Zeyi [@ZeyiYang] (6 July 2021)."Today WeChat permabanned most public accounts of college LGBTQ student groups in China. (Beida, Tsinghua, Fudan, etc.) Apparently coordinated decisions, but no explanation yet. Most these groups were already struggling to be recognized by their respective schools"(Tweet) – viaTwitter.
  170. ^Boyd, Alexander (31 August 2023)."WeChat Targets LGBTQ+ and Feminist Accounts In Mass Censorship Event".China Digital Times.Retrieved31 August2023.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WeChat&oldid=1254913934"