What Might a Ban on WeChat Mean for Chinese Students Studying in the United States?

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International Students

What Might a Ban on WeChat Mean for Chinese Students Studying in the United States?

BU users say it would have a profound impact on their daily lives

October 22, 2020
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On August 6, President Trump issued two executive orders banning US transactions with two popular Chinese apps, WeChat and TikTok, citing national security concerns. While the fate of TikTok has been drawing most of the headlines in the United States, for Chinese students studying here, the WeChat ban is far more concerning, and could profoundly impact their lives. 

With over 1.2 billion active users monthly across the globe, WeChat is the most popular communication app in the world, a powerful all-in-one tool for text messaging, e-commerce, payments, video games, location sharing, news, and business transactions in China. With many global social media providers currently blocked in China, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google, WeChat is also the main tool for Chinese students studying in America to connect with their families and friends back home. Despite a temporary injunction issued last month by a federal judge blocking Trump’s ban on WeChat, the future of the app here in the United States remains uncertain. 

What would a ban mean for BU students from China? In our video, Marketing and Communications international social media specialist Carol Duan talks with Chinese students Jiaxin Tong (COM’22) and Peiyu Ma (COM’21) to find out. 

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  • Carol Duan

    Carol Duan Profile

  • Alan Wong

    Executive Producer

    Alan Wong oversees a team of video producers who create video content for BU's online editorial publications and social media channels. He has produced more than 300 videos for Boston University, shuffling through a number of countries in the process: Australia, Argentina, Peru, Ireland, China, and Cambodia. He has also bored audiences in Atlanta and Boston giving talks on video for higher ed. Profile

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There is 1 comment on What Might a Ban on WeChat Mean for Chinese Students Studying in the United States?

  1. Would love to see the writer address the ways in which WeChat helps the Chinese Government infringe on human rights. With the health pass and the payment option, the CCP knows every move of every single person around the country.

    Censorship on actual chat contents, ban of sensitive phrases such as Tiananmen / June 4th / Hong Kong Protests / 光復香港時代革命 is not a rumor but a verifiable fact. Yes it is sad that these students lost their way to communicate with their loved ones, but the policy itself (and even Trump, whom I’m not big fan of) is hardly to blame. Think of how Uyghurs get arrested for even having WhatsApp on their phones and not WeChat even back in 2015, you would know the reach of WeChat as a tool of mass surveillance is wide and sinister. How many human rights lawyers get followed for typing sensitive words on WeChat? This is not White-washing but CCP-washing of the news. BU you can do better.

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