Global InformationWeChat information
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| Developer(s) | Tencent Holdings Limited | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial release | 21 January 2011 (as Weixin) | ||
| Preview release(s) | |||
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| Operating system | Android, HarmonyOS (for watch and bands), iOS, macOS, Windows, Windows Phone, WatchOS, Wear OS | ||
| Service name | WeChat (International)[2] Weixin (China Mainland)[3] | ||
| Available in | 17 languages | ||
List of languages Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese, Arabic, Turkish | |||
| Type | Instant messaging client | ||
| License | Proprietary freeware | ||
| Website | wechat.com (WeChat) weixin | ||
| Weixin | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 微信 | ||||||||||||||
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WeChat or Weixin in Chinese (Chinese: 微信; pinyin: Wēixìn (ⓘ); lit. 'micro-message')[a] is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018[4][5] with over 1 billion monthly active users.[6][7][8] WeChat has been described as China's "app for everything" and a super-app because of its wide range of functions.[9] 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".[10] 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 the Netherlands for users in the European Union, and in Singapore for other users.[11][12] User activity on Weixin, the Chinese version of the app, is analyzed, tracked and shared with Chinese authorities upon request as part of the mass surveillance network in China.[b] Chinese-registered Weixin accounts censor politically sensitive topics.[c][17][22] Any interactions between Weixin and WeChat users are subject to the terms of service and privacy policies of both services.[23]
In response to a border dispute between India and China, WeChat was banned in India in June 2020 along with several other Chinese apps, including TikTok.[24][25] U.S. president Donald Trump[26] sought to ban U.S. "transactions" with WeChat through an executive order but was blocked by a preliminary injunction issued in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in September 2020. Joe Biden officially dropped Trump's efforts to ban WeChat in the U.S. in June 2021.[27]
- ^ "WeChat APKs". APKMirror. Android Police. 19 November 2018. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
- ^ "WECHAT – TERMS OF SERVICE".
- ^ "Service Agreement".
- ^ It's time for messaging apps to quit the bullshit numbers and tell us how many users are active Archived 29 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine. techinasia.com. 23 January 2014. Steven Millward.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
TheEconomistwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "WeChat now has over 1 billion active monthly users worldwide · TechNode". TechNode. 5 March 2018. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- ^ "Tencent's Profit Is Better Than Expected". Bloomberg.com. 15 November 2017. Archived from the original on 15 November 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
- ^ "WeChat users pass 900 million as app becomes integral part of Chinese lifestyle". The Drum. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^ "How WeChat Became China's App For Everything". Fast Company. 2 January 2017. Archived from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ "Agreement on Software License and Service of Tencent Weixin". weixin.qq.com. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
- ^ "WeChat - Terms of Service". www.wechat.com. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
- ^ "Tencent draws a clearer line between international and Chinese WeChat users". South China Morning Post. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Wired surveillancewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
WSJ surveillancewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
BBC surveillancewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ 人的監視から混合型監視へ 超万能WeChatの中国をモデルにする北朝鮮（3/3）. KoreaWorldTimes (in Japanese). 7 August 2019. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ a b Deibert, Ronald. "Opinion | WeChat users outside China face surveillance while training censorship algorithms". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
citation1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
citation2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
citation3was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
citation4was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ 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. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
- ^ What is the difference between a WeChat user and a Weixin user?
- ^ 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. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
- ^ Desk, India com News (2 September 2020). "From TikTok to PUBG, India Has Banned 224 Chinese Apps Till Now in Three Months | All You Need to Know". India News, Breaking News, Entertainment News | India.com. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:10was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Allyn, Bobby (9 June 2021). "Biden Drops Trump's Ban on TikTok And WeChat — But Will Continue The Scrutiny". NPR. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
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