This will be a long week for all of you China watchers. There are a lot of new stories about the 20th Party Congress. The news of the banner protest in Beijing feels outdated at this point.
Some people who shared photos of the protest, others who didn't know what they did wrong, found their accounts banned from the social media platform. They were desperate to get their accounts back and apologize for talking about the protest. You can read my story if you want to learn more about the users who were banned from the platform.
I realized that one idea I take for granted might be hard for people outside of China to understand. Is the account worth anything? When you can't use one app, it's devastating.
The answer is that your WeChat account is almost the entire of your social and digital life in China.
There aren't a lot of alternatives. All messaging services are blocked. iMessages reach a small group of people because only a small percentage of China's phones are Apple's. Email is not used by most of the population. No matter if you are talking to a family member, a schoolmate, or a colleague, you need to use WeChat.
While it started out dominating one-on-one messaging and group chats, it soon incorporated all the services you would want from the internet. The in-app mini programs allow you to access non-Tencent services without leaving the platform. There is an operating system within the app. It sounds convenient. It means you are always in the app.
All of the above are lost if you lose a WeChat account. It is difficult to get your account back, but it is easier to get access to other services. You can't rebuild the social network you've created over a decade on the app. One banned user told me that he was questioned if he was a scam artist. It is the hardest part.
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