WeChat Is China’s Most Beloved (and Feared) Surveillance Tool

For a second life before a phone. Simple tasks become even more difficult when dealing with emergency situations. That is what it is like to live without a messaging service. Although it sounds like a messaging service, this one app dominates almost every facet of a person's daily online existence in China. More people are using it than any other social media platforms put together.

I use WeChat to communicate with people on the mainland. My friends sent me the location of a diner after I messaged them about where to meet for dinner. I paid the taxi driver after listening to Taylor Swift and booking movie tickets to see Spider-Man. I looked at the menu at the diner. We paid the bill and barely interacted with the waiter. I booked a flight and hotel for my next trip after scrolling through the latest celebrity gossip. I never left the messaging service.