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"Know Your Customer"

In the West, KYC means that a bank is going to ask to see your ID before letting you open an account.

In China, KYC means that, in order to use something as pedestrian as social media, you have to let the CCP AI dragnet build a profile that can be used to surveil you for the rest of your life.

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Wechat is basically a bank as you can use it to send money, hence KYC. If all the CCP wanted was to build a profile they'd just ask for ID and then scoop up every call you make.

Wechat is basically everything for mainland users.

Need to pay registration for car? Wechat

Need to verify covid screening to enter the country as a resident? Wechat

Need to request a taxi? Wechat

Need to pay your electricity bill? Wechat

EVERYTHING is done through wechat.

Yes, indeed. That said put in another way, they're just a bank and Facebook at the same time, which is indeed scary. Not that it would be very different if they were different services for spying purposes, the government can always centralize the data.

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