China's most popular app promotes President Xi's cult of personality

[EmperorScorpious]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/15/chinas-most-popular-app-brings-xi-jinping-to-your-pocket

The app’s name “Study (Xi) Strong Country”, is a pun – Xuexi being the word for “study” but also containing the president’s name, suggesting users are to “study Xi”.

The little red app is all-encompassing, allowing users to see state media news reports, video chat with their friends, make a personal schedule and send “red envelopes” of money to friends. The app comes with a Snapchat-like messaging function where messages disappear after being read. But perhaps among its most important functions is that it can help users brush up on Xi Jinping’s thought.

Government directives have been issued telling members of the Chinese Communist Party to download the app. This week, Henan province, officials instructed party members to “move quickly and effectively” in promoting the app and announced a plan to deploy a team of “correspondents” and commentators to provide material for the app.

Government officials in Fujian province and Qingdao city held workshops last month stressing the “political importance” of the app, and directing local leaders to promote the app across government departments.

This week the app overtook WeChat and TikTok to become the most-downloaded app for Apple and ios devices in China, though its popularity is not entirely due to merit.

Authorities have been forcing activists on Twitter to delete their accounts and WeChat groups are regularly shut down, even ones devoted to apolitical content. In October, almost 10,000 social media accounts for outlets publishing entertainment and celebrity news were closed.

[ASparkle]

The article also mentions that people are being coerced to use the app, government and state-run business officials are threatening people who don't use it as much as Xi wants.

[EmperorScorpious]

That's kind of why I don't like the original title of the article.

"China's most popular app" is really disingenuous, it should at minimum say "China's most downloaded app".

[ASparkle]

Effectively the app is being promoted the exact same way the Chinese government promotes their in house businesses, religions, newspapers, and even other software like Alibaba and Red Flag, by breaking the knees of people who don't comply.

[DireWolf]

Xi Jinping would like to know your location

but literally

[Sableye]

really short sighted of them, wechat was already a nightmareish all encompassing piece of spyware that had the thin vineer of being legitimate not state run garbage.

[Pie_Savvy]

You can download a bunch of Xi apps off the play store already fyi:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/topic?id=characterCAVqM8WZ2qg&hl=en

[Nachy]

So it's Mao's Little Red Book but for the social media era