Mr Musk's X super-app - if it does come to fruition - may be seen by some with suspicion as a double-edged Swiss Army knife.įor others though, the convenience and simplicity of living life on one app is an easy trade-off to make. How such data is treated and to what extent governments should have access to it will be part of the debate in societies where privacy is particularly prized. The example of WeChat highlights the main concern about super-apps - with everyone doing practically everything on just a few platforms, these apps end up collecting a vast trove of data on people, and could wield some power over our daily lives. In 2020, WeChat introduced its own scoring system where users get extra privileges if they have good in-app credit records. In China, even vegetable markets use WeChat as a payment system Messages, posts and even accounts are routinely blocked for content deemed politically sensitive, and there are concerns of how it could contribute to the various controversial 'social credit' schemes in China, where citizens' lives can be restricted based on their bank credit scores or social behaviour. Much has been written about how its ubiquity in Chinese everyday life, operating in a society tightly controlled by the government has seen WeChat become a tool of surveillance and censorship. Some research suggests that a Chinese user spends as much as a third of their waking life on WeChat alone. WeChat is also one of China's biggest payment networks, with consumers using it to pay for goods and services and to send money to each other. At last count it's estimated to have 1.29 billion users in China alone. It's a messaging and social media platform that's evolved into one of the region's biggest apps in terms of its range of services and number of users. Then, there's China's WeChat - the original Asian super-app said to be the inspiration for Mr Musk's X. Elon Musk, Twitter and the mysterious X app

Left whatsapp open the whole night