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Comment by solaarphunk | Hacker News Reader

No. I need it to conduct business, and that's more important to me than posting or discussing controversial topics. People in China literally do not use email, so this is the only effective method to get things done (which I'm totally ok with!). This ban would be an absolute disaster for me, given that my entire rolodex are WeChat contacts, not email addresses.

I also feel for my friends who have family in China, and want to stay connected with them through a medium that is widely adopted.

There is a cultural standard that is just different in China when it comes to free speech, and it's hard for most people in the US to accept that.

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The average American has no idea how disruptive this is to the Chinese American community; as you stated they basically do not use email, and this is essentially the only way to communicate to friends and family in China. I know a lot of older Chinese Americans who were freaking out for weeks because banning this app would essentially cut them off with no clear alternatives.

As to the censorship point, from my experience using wechat in the past people rarely discuss politics on there, unless it's to make fun of the US political reality TV. Perhaps not actively discussing internal Chinese politics is considered a form of self-censorship.

If you willingly talk about other politics but not your own, that does seem to be a bit of self-censorship. I mean in that case it does demonstrate that they aren't just avoiding politics in general (out of lack of interest). That or turning a blind eye, but that may or may not be meaningfully different.

So you're admitting that WeChat is too big to fail. Let them be banned (the same way the CCP bans external apps) and let them get a taste of their own medicine.

Maybe they will decouple the app from the backend. Publish the interface, set up an auth system and let the community build their own apps to interface with it.

That's the reason email still exists today and will continue to exist long after today's fad app goes out of style.

Why would the Chinese government allow that, assuming their goal is to continue monitoring and censoring the chats.

And that's the problem. The CCP has been left to do whatever it wants and it reached a point where it is "too big to fail". Is this the kind of world we want the next generation to live in? The sooner we put a stop to this mess the better.

This is for China's people to decide not you.

Why should it be only for China's people to decide? CCP's actions have global effects, China's people are not the only ones affected.

Do others get to vote in US elections ?

They should. If not votes, then at least a couple of representatives in the Congress to complain loudly every time the US wants to do something to make life harder for other countries.

So let's see that first. But get in line behind DC residents and Puerto Ricans.

Okay clearly this discussion has crossed every realm of reality.

The CCP has already decided to be a bully, and it seems its people are supporting them (except the poor ones being murdered like the Uighurs). Let them get a taste of their own medicine.

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