WeChat

WeChat is the dominant smartphone-based messaging application in China developed by tech giant Tencent in 2011, which also owns the popular instant messaging software service QQ. To take advantage of its existing user base on QQ, when WeChat was first released, Tencent encouraged QQ users to move their QQ contacts and mobile contacts to new WeChat accounts. After its release in 2011, WeChat quickly reached 50 million users in 10 months. By 2018, WeChat had over 1 billion monthly active users. This entry discusses how WeChat works, the ways it is used, concerns about censorship and fake news on the platform, and security concerns raised by governments outside China.

Users can initiate text, voice, and video chat with friends on WeChat. Also, they can post and ...