WeChat, which is used by more than 1 billion people globally, has gone from ‘super app’ to ‘police app’.
Articles on WeChat
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Popular Chinese apps WeChat and RedNote are a tool for political campaigning – but such content is banned. Here’s how parties work around it, including by avoiding proper disclosures.
Thousands of Chinese Australians get their news on WeChat or RedNote, but there’s evidence disinformation is circulating unchecked.
China’s version of TikTok, Douyin, and its biggest social media app, WeChat, are transforming reading in China – with more influence than BookTok.
Red, as the platform is known for short, offers a more open space than WeChat for competing ideas to be heard.
As well as becoming an ‘everything app’ and a place where lies continue to flourish, X is likely to see an increase what’s known as ‘cyberbalkanisation’.
Social media is giving a new lifeline to Bhutan’s native languages, which do not have written script and lack proper documentation.
One ‘no’ video was reposted more than 10,000 times by WeChat users, while a ‘yes’ video from the Victorian Labor Party was shared only 25 times.
The design philosophy of the everything app WeChat may seem paradoxical, being simultaneously pervasive and inconspicuous. But this idea of “everythingness” goes back to ancient Taoist philosophy.
Everything apps offer a wide range of features, combining social media with personal finances. But creating the perfect everything app is no easy task.
Foreign interference campaigns have targeted every major social media platform in Australia. But to date, nobody has been prosecuted for this.
Chinese Australians use WeChat for everything from paying bills and attending funerals, to helping community members in need. Banning the ‘super sticky’ app would do more harm than good.
Concerns about misinformation spreading among Chinese communities are once again prominent, as they were during the 2019 election campaign.
Politicians in Chinese-speaking electorates have started to view recruiting Chinese international students as indispensable. But there are risks involved for the students.
Canadians are increasingly turning to private messaging apps where COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories spread in an unregulated manner.
A wider understanding of cultural values will be crucial to the successful implementation of contact-tracing technology across the world.
In China, a lot of news happens entirely inside the WeChat platform. Is this the future for Facebook?
It’s not only Alibaba and Ant Group that are feeling the heat.
WeChat is a key way for the Chinese diaspora to maintain social ties, or guanxi.
Banning the Chinese-owned social media platforms raises free speech concerns and could worsen the US-China trade war.
Top contributors
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Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Technology Sydney
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Research Fellow at Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne
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Senior Lecturer, Communications and Media Studies, Monash University
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Senior Lecturer in Communication, Deakin University
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Associate Professor, National Sun Yat-sen University
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Assistant professor, University of Zurich
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Industry Fellow, UNSW Canberra Cyber, Australian Defence Force Academy, UNSW
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Associate Director, Business Transformation Initiative, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)
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PhD Candidate, University of Sydney
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PhD candidate; sessional academic, Queensland University of Technology
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Associate Professor (Law), Southern Cross University
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Senior Lecturer in Media & Communications Studies, The University of Melbourne
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Professor, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University
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Professor of Innovation and Strategy, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)
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Professor of Finance, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)