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Re:China Blocks WhatsApp by hhw on Monday September 25, 2017 @05:06PM (#15334150)
China has a long and proud tradition as being at the forefront of civilization, and they see the last 100+ years or so just as a temporary setback. The current ruling class may not see the need to share with the outside world. This may sadly result in the decline of China's competitiveness on the world stage, but those in the ruling class may be more concerned with consolidating their power within the country. This is not a new problem for the Chinese; it's just repeating the cycle of every dynasty that came before.

On a separate note, Whatsapp has been copying WeChat's features rather than the other way around for years. So perhaps China thinks they can innovate enough on their own to match or outpace the outside world. While I don't think that's impossible, I don't think they've taken into account how much the cultural revolution wiped out a lot of culture and collective wisdom built up over the centuries, and that will put them at much more of a disadvantage than they realize.

Re:China Blocks WhatsApp by teknologist on Tuesday September 26, 2017 @03:19AM (#15336813)
WeChat's "features"? Come on people, these chat apps are pretty basic

I use both WeChat and WhatsApp extensively

Re:China Blocks WhatsApp by newen on Wednesday September 27, 2017 @08:56PM (#15353657)
Wechat had audio messages way before whatsapp. And the animated emojis way before facebook. Both used to be the shit when I was using wechat a couple of years ago. Also you can use wechat to as essentially a credit card. It's like a blob app that has everything in it.
Re:China Blocks WhatsApp by paradite on Tuesday September 26, 2017 @08:33AM (#15338034)
Wechat = WhatsApp + Facebook + PayPal

Unless you mean Facebook and PayPal are nothing, you are wrong.