Various social networking applications have made connecting with friends and family despite distances much easier. Unfortunately, apps such as WeChat are also fueling the hobby of gossiping in the country.
According to a study conducted by a state-backed think tank, the most popular mobile-messaging app in the country is rich ground for rumormongers. Since the information shared by users on WeChat is hard to confirm, refute, as well as monitor, the Chinese authorities are worried.
"WeChat has become a 'hypermedia' ecosystem, and it's very difficult to repel WeChat rumors," said Tang Xujun from the Institute of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). "Political rumors, fake news, materialistic and ostentatious messages all proliferate in a communications environment that is relatively closed and relationship based."
WeChat is the brainchild of Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings, and was released in 2011. With approximately 550 million monthly active users, the mobile-message app is considered as China's fastest growing social media platform.
Aside from keeping in touch with friends and family, the app is also used for transactions such as mobile payments and information dissemination as a CASS study indicates, with an average user reading at least six articles on the app per day.
Since users have to be acquainted with each other on WeChat, trust is not an issue.
"Why is the level of trust in information on WeChat so high? Because information spread on WeChat comes from family and friends, not strangers," said Kung Wenbo, a professor from Renmin University's School of Journalism and Communication.
"This is just like being enclosed in a private room, discussing information over the dinner table--the government has no way of interfering."
Social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo are regulated by the government, but the country has long grappled with the issue of social media regulation. Government authorities consider the management of online rumors as key to the country's national security.