QQ was launched by Tencent in 1999 and is China's oldest instant messaging platform. While WeChat dominates adult life, QQ firmly holds the youth market — its core users are Gen Z, using it for chat, gaming, music, and social circles.

QQ once had up to 900 million active users. Today it remains one of the most widely used messaging tools among Chinese communities in Southeast Asia and globally.

But QQ, like WeChat, is a Tencent product. Tencent is legally required to comply with all CCP data demands. This means: everything you say on QQ can potentially be monitored, censored, and used against you.

No end-to-end encryption. This means Tencent can read your messages. Tencent's servers store your chat history. Under Chinese law, these records can be handed to CCP authorities at any time.

Identity card photos stored in plain text. A 2025 forensic research study found that QQ stores user-uploaded identity card photos in plain text in its local database — photos that were supposed to be safely deleted after "unfreezing the payment function." Researchers extracted raw ID card images directly from devices.

CCP censorship compliance. QQ complies with Chinese internet surveillance and censorship policies. Sensitive keywords are automatically filtered without any notification to users. Content deemed a threat to "social stability" can result in account bans or arrest.

Location and device data collection. QQ collects real-time location, device identifiers, contacts, chat history and payment information — all stored on servers inside China.

Many young users choose QQ because it feels more "anonymous" than WeChat — nicknames and avatars, no real-name verification, no bank account link.

But this sense of anonymity is an illusion. Tencent holds your phone number, device identifiers, IP address and complete chat history. Your identity can be established without a real name.

More importantly: Southeast Asian scam syndicates have widely exploited QQ to contact victims and extort property. QQ's ability to track scam activity — and ordinary users — is entirely asymmetric in the CCP's favour.

Z-TEXT is built on the BitcoinZ blockchain — running continuously since 10 September 2017. No Tencent. No CCP. No company or server that any government can subpoena.

Z-TEXT uses zk-SNARKs (zero-knowledge proof) technology — the world's first messenger to apply this. It means: sender, receiver, content and timestamp are invisible to everyone, including Z-TEXT itself.

No phone number. No identity card. No real name. Your identity is a cryptographic z-address — this is real anonymity, not the false sense of safety that QQ offers.

QQ gives young people a false sense of security — nicknames, avatars, a "private" space. But behind all of this are Tencent's servers, CCP law, and completely unencrypted chat history.

The EFF gave QQ only 2 out of 7 — because it has no end-to-end encryption, no open source code, and messages can be read by Tencent.

Z-TEXT does not ask you to trust any company. It asks you to trust mathematics. zk-SNARKs technology ensures every message is cryptographically invisible. Built on the BitcoinZ blockchain that has never stopped running since 2017.

This is not an upgrade. This is a fundamental difference.