WeChat Blocks Changing Of Profiles Till End Of Month

Last night saw a rather sudden and unexpected announcement from WeChat team. The official statement was short and to the point: No one can change their profile information until the end of the month. From testing, it seems it's true, see pics below:

Left: Error message when trying to change profile picture   Right: Error message when trying to change profile name

The full message from WeChat

Translation: 

In the near future, WeChat will be conducting system maintenance, from now until the end of this month, users will temporarily be unable to modify their profile picture, name and tagline. Other features are not affected. We ask for users understanding with regard to the resulting inconvenience.          

WeChat Team 17th Oct 2017

What going on?

With the announcement coming on the eve of China's 19th party congress it's very hard not to believe that there is not at least some connection between the two. The most likely explanation would seem to be that WeChat is doing backend work to lay the groundwork for implementing the new online social credit system mandated very recently by the Chinese government.

Scan the QR code for a complete English translation of the new government rules

↓↓↓ "Read more" to check out more articles