WeChat is muting certain keywords and websites for its domestic users even if they re-register with an overseas phone number, claims a new study by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.
The popular messaging platform is owned and operated by Chinese internet giant Tencent, and now boasts 846 million users, making it the fourth largest app of its kind in the world. WeChat’s services are no longer limited to messaging and voice and video calls, it also offers games, mobile payments, and bots. The platform’s model is the envy of Western messaging services, in particular Facebook Messenger — which itself has pushed through a number of updates to bring it closer to WeChat.
However, like any app operating within China, WeChat has to follow the government’s strict guidelines on censorship. Although it was initially believed that WeChat only removed keywords and URLs from messages sent by users registered with a mainland China phone number, that no longer seems to be the case. According to Citizen Lab, its tests found that once a China-based user registers with the app its censorship follows them around — even if they switch to an international phone number.
With roughly 50 million Chinese people thought to be studying and working abroad, that’s a significant number of people the app could potentially be targeting.
“This extra-territorial application of information controls is quite unique, and certainly a disturbing precedent to set,” writes Ronald Deibert, director of Citizen Lab, in a blog post.
The tests also revealed that WeChat no longer warns users when it blocks messages. In the past, it would issue an alert that read: “contains restricted words.” Now, a banned keyword is simply removed from the recipient’s screen, claims the study. Additionally, the study found censorship on group chat to be more extensive.
“By removing notice of censorship, WeChat sinks deeper into a dark hole of unaccountability to its users,” adds Deibert.
WeChat’s censored keywords span a range of content, including current events, politics, and social issues. They are also regularly updated, with some words being relegated and new terms being adopted on an ongoing basis.
The study saw Citizen Lab undertake several controlled experiments using combinations of China, Canada, and U.S. registered phone numbers and accounts. Researchers tested more than 26,000 keywords that have been blocked on other Chinese websites, such as Weibo and TOM-Skype. Overall, they discovered that 174 words were muted from messages, including terms such as “Free Tibet,” and “ISIS crisis.” The highest percentage of blocked keywords were related to the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Digital Trends reached out to several WeChat employees but did not immediately receive a response. The company’s press contact email also seems to be defunct.
Discord is trying to push more visibility on the internet for some of its biggest communities, and there's a good chance your messages could end up in a Google Search. The platform is preparing to make conversations from certain public servers searchable on the web, so there's a privacy setting you might want to check before the rollout begins.
According to Discord's official announcement, the changes will roll out in two stages. Starting November 16, qualifying servers will have public web pages featuring automated summaries of conversations. By mid-December, individual messages from eligible public channels could also appear word-for-word in Google and other search engines.
You just opened X and started typing your thoughts. Imagine the jump scare when a hand suddenly pops up on your screen, pointing at the promote button. It doesn’t say a word and simply points. For a growing number of X users, this isn’t a made-up scenario but something they have been seeing since yesterday, and very few of them are amused.
Most of us have learned to tune out the usual in-app upsells, whether it’s a glowing upgrade banner or a pop-up about a premium plan. A floating hand hovering over your draft is much harder to ignore, and that’s probably the whole point.
Scroll through any app for five minutes, and you’ll find someone maxxing something. Their skin, their sleep, their protein intake, even their Friday night on the couch. That little suffix has been everywhere this year, and now it has a trophy to show for it. In a recent announcement, Dictionary.com named maxxing its 2026 Word of the Year.
What are people actually doing when they’re maxxing?