WeChat, China’s largest social platform, has now surpassed 1.2 billion monthly active users as of the end of March. That’s nearly half of what Facebook has, and it counts both international users and mainland China users, which Tencent manages differently.
Tencent said the number of WeChat users was up by more than 8% in its first-quarter. The company attributed it to the Covid-19 pandemic, which it said has boosted demand for the app’s myriad mini programs, now used by more than 400 million users. Some people have switched to doing grocery shopping and accessing municipal services within the app, according to Tencent.
Facebook still has a lot more users across all its platforms. For its main site alone, the company said it had 2.6 billion monthly active users. But when Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp are included, Facebook reaches 2.99 billion users. And despite WeChat’s growth, much of Tencent’s 6% growth in profits in the first quarter was thanks to its massive gaming empire.