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AbacusTech

WeChat users in the US say a potential ban of the app would cut them off from friends and family in China

  • Many people in US rely on WeChat to stay connected with friends, family and business contacts in China
  • The situation is unclear, but some think a complete ban of the app is unlikely

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After a comment from White House adviser Peter Navarro suggesting the US could take action against WeChat, some users worry about how they might keep in contact with friends and family in China in the future. Photo: Shutterstock
Xinmei Shen
After politicians in the US spent months grilling TikTok about privacy, censorship and other concerns, another Chinese app was also recently caught up in the fray: WeChat. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro recently said that people should “expect strong action” on WeChat and TikTok, leading to questions about possible app bans in the US.
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Losing access to Tencent’s messaging app probably won’t frustrate Gen Z and millennial Americans as much as losing TikTok. But it could still be a blow to millions of people in the US who need WeChat to stay in touch with friends, family and business contacts in China.

“I have quite a few groups that I connect with via WeChat: my family in China, my friends in China, my Chinese friends who are here in North America, or around the world for that matter,” said a Chinese Canadian working in the US who asked for anonymity because of the topic’s political sensitivity.

For many people in China, WeChat is more than just a messaging app. It’s the largest social network in the country and a kind of Swiss Army knife of an app that lets people use mobile payments in stores, pay bills online, hail taxis and so much more. Since the app is so dominant in China, talks of a possible WeChat ban in the US has some people trying to figure out if there are any good alternatives or whether they’ll need a VPN.
WeChat now has 1.2 billion monthly active users globally, according to Tencent. Photo: Shutterstock
WeChat now has 1.2 billion monthly active users globally, according to Tencent. Photo: Shutterstock

The problem for the Chinese diaspora is that many popular social networks and chat apps are banned in China. Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram and just about anything from Google are all unavailable in the country. China has even banned Line, which is most widely used in certain Asian countries like Japan and Thailand.

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Instead of relying on contacts to be tech-savvy enough to use a VPN and get around the China’s Great Firewall, many people just resort to using WeChat. But now WeChat users outside China are imagining the headaches of using a VPN themselves.

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