[kartickv]

I don't know what you mean by "boosterism" (is that a US term?) but I don't see what's wrong with a pro-WeChat article if The Economist genuinely believes WeChat is amazing, or is recognising its advantages.

Not shying away from expressing opinion makes The Economist 10x more useful than other news sources, which merely report the facts, which I often know because everyone has already repeated them ad nauseam. I learn much more from reading an article in The Economist than other sources.

Regarding your other point, The Economist style guide says that writers shouldn't assume that readers already know what a given company does. Hence, "HSBC, a bank". Because there are many companies that are not familiar. Do you know what Idea is, for example? Answer: An Indian cell network.