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Tencent Halts WeChat Status Tests, Rules Out Read and Visitor Tracking for Good

The pledge underscores Tencent's choice to favor user privacy over traceable interactions.

Overview

  • Tencent PR chief Zhang Jun said Tuesday that WeChat will never add read receipts or visitor logs and confirmed the status view-count experiment has ended.
  • The small iOS-only gray test showed how many people viewed a status and floated friends’ avatar bubbles that linked to their own statuses.
  • Customer support said the feature did not show who visited and stressed that WeChat designs features with privacy protection as the starting point.
  • A WeChat employee called viral images that appeared to show detailed visitor records doctored and labeled the posts as rumors.
  • Reports of the trial climbed Weibo’s trending lists, reflecting worry that traceable views would add pressure to casual browsing on a platform built on low‑stress social norms.