Tencent’s WeChat App Keeps Growing Despite Beijing Crackdown

Mini programs’ 2021 daily users jumped 12.5% to 450 million
China has sought to open up apps, improve data protections

The WeChat app.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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By Zheping Huang and Sarah Zheng

January 6, 2022 at 5:16 AM UTC

Updated on

January 6, 2022 at 7:56 AM UTC

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Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat super app managed remarkable growth in services from e-commerce to payments and search over the past year, defying a government crackdown that sought to tear down barriers within China’s internet arena.

Daily active users of WeChat mini-programs -- lite apps within the main social media and messaging platform -- grew about 12.5% to 450 million in 2021, Tencent executives said during the WeChat annual event Thursday. The app’s native search function -- a feature once touted as Tencent’s answer to Baidu Inc.’s dominance -- added 200 million monthly users over the past year, they added.