Elon Musk says he aspires to transform his social media platform X into “WeChat++”, akin to Tencent Holdings’ flagship super app, by integrating various social and finance features.
On a recent People by WTF podcast hosted by entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath, Musk cited the extensive utility of WeChat as a model for X – previously known as Twitter, which he bought for US$44 billion in October 2022.
“You can exchange information, you can publish information, you can exchange money,” Musk said, emphasising how users “live their life on WeChat in China” while noting that there was no equivalent app elsewhere in the world.
“There’s no real WeChat outside of China,” he said.
WeChat, known locally as Weixin, integrates native functionality such as social media, content and payments, as well as third-party services in the form of mini-programs – tiny apps that provide more than 1.4 billion monthly active users with a vast array of services, including online shopping, mobile gaming and ride hailing.
