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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Dan Milmo and Amy Hawkins

‘The everything app’: why Elon Musk wants X to be a WeChat for the west

WeChat logo on a smartphone with stock market percentages in the background
WeChat is used for messaging, email, social media, payments, food deliveries, plane and train tickets, ride hailing and much more. Photograph: Omar Marques/Sopa Images/Shutterstock

Daily life in Chinese cities is nearly impossible to navigate without WeChat, to the extent that being barred from the country’s super-app has been likened to a “digital death”. Commonly described as a smartphone messaging platform, it is more like several apps rolled into one, used for messaging, social media, payments, subscriptions, utility bills, food deliveries, plane and train tickets, ride hailing and much more. It is owned by the Chinese tech giant Tencent.

And Elon Musk would like a rebranded Twitter to be just as indispensable in the west.

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