WeChat’s rapid expansion into other Asian countries gives Beijing a tool to wield power over political messaging abroad.

Khun Joy benefits by allowing transactions over 300 baht through WeChat Pay at her high-end souvenir and clothing shop in Koh Samui, Thailand. Many of her customers are Chinese. “Quite often,” she says, they’ll “buy more so they don’t have to use a credit card.” On the surface, it’s a win-win solution.

But Joy’s is no isolated experience. Across its neighboring countries, China is laying the foundations for a new weapon of information influence with the expansion of its leading social media platform, WeChat. What the U.S. did with Voice of America during World War II and the Cold War, China is increasingly in a position to pursue, thanks to WeChat’s rapid growth inside the markets of regional neighbors.

The app, whose parent company, Tencent, gets extremely low marks for privacy protections, can wield propaganda power by blocking politicized messages.

OZY CEO and co-founder Carlos Watson challenges readers to see beyond stereotypes nationwide.

Are all Black men progressive? Are Asian-American millennials politically engaged? How do White women think about love and guns in the era of #MeToo and President Trump? Is there a divide between young Latinos and their parents?

For too long, stereotypes and assumptions have silenced groups across the U.S. Now is the time for honest conversations involving not just politicos and pundits, but people from all walks of life.

Welcome to Take On America with OZY, our newest prime-time show, launching Thursday, Oct. 18. This series brings together people of the same race or ethnic background in order to shine a spotlight on their diversity — and cut through the cultural stereotypes.

Join us as we explore a range of opinions among groups of people that are often presumed to vote as a bloc, and get an inside look into the conversations these communities are having amongst themselves.

This is what happens when a Persian woman brings insight to an ancient poet’s words.

The most popular translations of the 13th-century poet, Sufi mystic and philosopher known as Rumi have been produced by English-speaking white men. And while that’s helped turn him into one of the bestselling poets in the U.S. and has influenced everything from Coldplay albums to tattoos, some people have questioned what’s missing from these interpretations. Perhaps that’s a Persian woman’s perspective.

Ari Honarvar, born and raised in Shiraz, Iran, has always felt a deep connection with the poets of her Persian culture, “where poetry is so much part of a person that we can’t distinguish us from the poem,” she says. Ten years ago she began the process that birthed Rumi’s Gift oracle cards, a set that provides readers with multiple pathways to connect with the ancient poetry.