Elon Musk reiterates aim to transform X into a ‘WeChat++’ super app

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.\nOn 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.\n“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.\n“There’s no real WeChat outside of China,” he said.\n\nWeChat, 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.\nWeixin operates under strict censorship in China, similar to other domestic social media platforms, while X is blocked in the country.\nThis is not the first time Musk has expressed a desire to expand X to match the scale of WeChat. Following Twitter’s rebranding to X in July 2023, he spoke about his goal of modelling X on WeChat.\n“Maybe acquiring Twitter would also be an opportunity to revisit the original plan of X.com,” Musk said, referencing the app’s potential as a “clearing house for financial transactions”.\nIn January, X struck a deal with Visa to offer a financial services feature called X Money, expected to launch later this year. The feature would enable peer-to-peer payments via debit cards and facilitate fund transfers to bank accounts, according to Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X at the time.\nX has also added capabilities for audio and video calls, driven by Musk’s belief that video will dominate online interactions. “Most interaction is going to be real-time video with [artificial intelligence],” he said, adding that “text is a pretty small percentage”.\nMusk noted that X’s roughly 600 million monthly users primarily consisted of “people that read words”, indicating there was potential to attract a more diverse user base.\n