WeChat · Full chronicle and history

A netizen was permanently banned from WeChat, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin after posting a taboo nickname for Xi Jinping, "getting used to the recent plain and ordinary days" (a pun on Xi Jinping's name), on their Moments.

On November 3, a US netizen posted a video stating that screenshots of a recently released movie sent to friends were repeatedly blocked by WeChat. Even after cropping and blurring, they could not be sent, but sending them via Douyin succeeded, sparking discussions among netizens about WeChat's censorship mechanism.

A netizen was monitored by WeChat and summoned for a 'tea' talk that same night after discussing cosplaying as 'Da Bai' (COVID-19 health worker) for Halloween in Shanghai.

Recently, multiple netizens posted that WeChat's official account recommendation feed displayed images of Winnie the Pooh, along with title combinations reminiscent of Xi Jinping, such as "Do not be a profit-driven chairman," "Breakfast at Qingfeng Steamed Bun Shop," and "The heroic youth who fires at the dictator."

On October 30, a netizen posted that after sharing a photo on WeChat Moments of a "Bushuila" drink featuring a portrait of Kylian Mbappé, all social functions of their account were temporarily restricted four minutes later.

After the controversy over Mbappé's remarks, a netizen posted on WeChat Moments a photo of a "Hydrate" drink printed with Mbappé's face along with a doctored image captioned "Party enemy Mbappé," with the caption "has become a swan song." After the post went up, friends could not see it; 22 minutes later the user reposted a screenshot, and it was blocked again more than two hours later.

On October 26, the WeChat mini program "Cangdun Graduate Entrance Exam Politics Question Bank" was suspended from service. The page indicated a violation of the Provisions on the Administration of Information Services for Mobile Internet Applications, and netizens speculated that it was related to the large number of remarks mocking and satirizing Xi Jinping in its notes section.

On October 21, a large number of netizens reported having their Moments features restricted, or even permanently banned, for posting sentences containing specific homophonic characters, such as "accustomed to the plain and uneventful days lately," in their WeChat Moments.

After several mainland netizens posted reflections containing specific homophones on WeChat Moments, their Moments feature was restricted until November 20 or their WeChat accounts were banned.

On October 21, a large number of netizens posted screenshots claiming that their Moments feature was restricted for posting the sentence “Used to the quiet days lately” on WeChat Moments. After one netizen appealed, the Moments feature was permanently banned. The sentence is suspected of being treated as a sensitive term related to Xi Jinping.

On September 15, a WeChat PR employee responded to privacy controversies surrounding the AI assistant "Xiaowei," denying that it peeks at chat logs, but admitting that recommendations are made based on user interaction data. Earlier updates to WeChat's privacy policy showed that using Xiaowei collects user input and information viewed within the scenario.

On September 11, The New York Times reported that a US California security company used AI to simulate attacks on WeChat, exposing the vulnerability of digital infrastructure. Zhao Minghao, deputy director of Fudan University's Center for American Studies, said that the ability to attack core Chinese apps like WeChat is comparable to new nuclear weapons.

Silicon Valley attorney Zhu says his WeChat account, which he had used for more than 10 years, was permanently banned, with the platform citing reports against it and multiple violations as the reason.

On August 21, 2026, a netizen posted that after setting a still from Friends showing the three characters covering their eyes, ears and mouths as their WeChat Moments background, their account was immediately restricted from joining groups and from using a number of other features, including WeCom.

On August 17, WeChat updated the "WeChat Privacy Protection Guidelines," specifying that when using the AI assistant Xiaowei, it collects users' typed text, voice, images, documents, and output content, and that when Xiaowei is invoked in scenarios such as Official Accounts, Channels, and Moments, it also processes the information users view or enter in the corresponding scenarios.

On August 5, 2026, a WeChat official account user reported that after publishing public-interest images and texts supporting anti-animal-abuse legislation and voicing support for Wangwang in Jieyang, they were subjected to forced post deletion by the platform and restrictions on the use of their image-posting account functions.