China's National Ageing-Adaptation Mandate — MIIT-Driven 'Elder Mode' Across WeChat, Alipay and 115 Public Websites

In January 2021, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) launched a year-long "Special Action Plan for Aging and Accessibility Adaptation of Internet Applications," ordering 115 public-facing websites and 43 mobile apps spanning e-commerce, transport, social media and healthcare to add elderly- and disability-friendly versions.
In April 2021 MIIT published binding technical specifications (larger fonts/icons, no pop-up ads, voice search, family-linked accounts) and set a compliance deadline of end-September 2021; major platforms including Tencent's WeChat (1.25 billion monthly active users as of Q2 2021), Alibaba's Taobao, and JD.com released dedicated "care" or "elder" modes, with WeChat's Care Mode going live on 28 September 2021.
A 2024 mixed-methods study (55 interviewees aged 60–85, 46 interviews, 4 focus groups, published via SAGE) found the technical redesigns competently executed, but that most older users had limited awareness of the policy and rarely used the dedicated modes; over 90% preferred informal help from family over the modes or formal training, and attendees of government digital-skills workshops found them "not very useful" due to pacing. The case illustrates that interface redesign alone, even at national-mandate scale, does not guarantee adoption without parallel investment in outreach and family/peer support channels.

Read the full analysis: https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3150456/wechat-rolls-out-elderly-care-mode-tencent-answers-call-internet