The mobile app WeChat from Tencent was first introduced in 2011. It was named the largest standalone mobile app in 2018. Moreover, since its release, it has evolved further from a messenger app to a super-app with its range of features and functionalities. A study published in November 2025 also revealed that it has become a policing tool in China.
When a Commercial Super-App Becomes a Governance Tool: Inside the Rise of WeChat as a Front-Line Policing Tool
The emergence of WeChat as a policing platform exemplifies the unique policing and surveillance architecture in China, where a familiar and deeply embedded app becomes a cost-effective law enforcement tool.
Feature-Packed All-Rounder App
China has been pushing for digital governance. This has encouraged its agencies to adopt readily available platforms rather than build expensive systems. WeChat, already central to daily Chinese life, provides identity verification, payments, messaging, and location functions that make it an appealing foundation for emerging policing infrastructures.
Ausma Bernot, surveillance researcher and lecturer in technology and crime studies, examined how the Chinese super-app evolved into a policing tool by analyzing 53 government procurement documents and media reports describing the security functions of the platform. These revealed how public security bureaus have used WeChat-based modules.
She focused on two major official WeChat policing accounts to track service design, technological capabilities, and regional adoption patterns. This comparison enabled her to pinpoint variations in implementation and further show how resource disparities, local priorities, and technical capacities shape the uneven development of WeChat-enabled policing systems.
A Readily Accessible Policing Tool
The analysis revealed how WeChat has become embedded in the contemporary policing landscape of China. Findings further outline the many ways law enforcement agencies use WeChat, the unevenness of its adoption, and the broader implications for surveillance and governance. The following are further details of how WeChat is used as a policing tool:
• WeChat Has Become a Core Policing Interface
The study found that WeChat is now widely used by public security agencies in China as a front-line tool for reporting crimes, collecting tips, verifying identities, and facilitating communication. Many police offices or stations across the country treat it as a digital extension of traditional police stations.
• Local Police Use WeChat to Gather Real-Time Information
It is interesting to note that citizens use WeChat to submit photos, videos, and detailed reports of incidents directly to the police. Furthermore, in some regions, police receive real-time alarms through the application, thus allowing audio and video contact between dispatchers and the public during emergencies.
• WeChat Policing Systems Plug Into Surveillance Databases
All data submitted through WeChat and generated through consistent app use does not stay within the app. They flow into broader police cloud systems and further into large population surveillance databases. This demonstrates how the Chinese government links everyday digital activities with national security infrastructures.
• Implementation Varies Sharply Across Regions
Wealthier provinces such as Fujian and Shanghai have deeply integrated WeChat policing services and offer hundreds of digital features. Other areas depend on minimal or symbolic implementations. Some instances even involve creating zombie or dummy accounts that exist only to satisfy modernization targets.
• Police Use WeChat for Rapid Identity Verification
Some regions or provinces in China use dedicated WeChat modules equipped with facial recognition and digital ID card scanning. These features allow police officers to confirm identities quickly in the field through the app. Remember that the app is connected to large population surveillance databases.
• Public-Private Cooperation Is a Key Feature
It is important to note that Tencent, the Chinese software developer company behind the app, provides specialized policing modules to local governments, enabling them to adopt the super-app as an off-the-shelf public security platform. This partnership aligns business interests with state surveillance priorities.
• WeChat Policing Emerged as a Cost-Efficient Alternative
One of the main reasons behind the widespread adoption of the app is that many local governments lack the resources or technical staff to build independent digital policing systems. The existing infrastructure of WeChat provides a low-cost and highly accessible solution for modernizing security operations.
• The System Blurs Boundaries Between Daily Life and Surveillance
Moreover, because WeChat dominates communication, payments, and several critical public services, Chinese citizens interact with policing systems simply by using an app that they are already familiar with. This convenience comes with increased data exposure and deeper integration into state-run monitoring networks.
Uniqueness of Chinese Surveillance
Bernot explains that the entire model in the Chinese policing system reflects the broader trend in which governments partner with private companies for security. Countries like the United States and Israel have partnered with technology companies for policing and surveillance. But China is somewhat unique because WeChat is deeply integrated into daily life.
The integration of WeChat into policing expands the surveillance architecture of China by linking everyday digital activities with public security systems. This blurring of daily communication, administrative services, and state monitoring heightens concerns about data exposure, privacy, and diminished separation between app use and government oversight.
Moreover, the growing policing functions of the app strengthen public-private partnerships that give Tencent an influential role. As security agencies increasingly rely on WeChat, citizens face reduced transparency about how their data is used, potentially normalizing expansive monitoring practices and limiting debate about digital rights and accountability.
FURTHER READING AND REFERENCE
- Bernot, A. 2025. “WeChat‐as‐a‐Police Service.” Policy & Internet. 17(4). DOI: 1002/poi3.70018h