Now, it appears that PRC has largely blocked Facebook-owned WhatsApp inwards its latest pace to tighten censorship every bit the province prepares for a major Communist Party gathering adjacent month.
Yes, WhatsApp no longer plant inwards the province at all.
PRC has a long history of blocking as well as limiting access to spider web services, peculiarly social networks as well as Western-owned sites through its Great Firewall. The service currently blocks or as well as thence 171 out of the world's leading websites, including Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, as well as many Google services inwards mainland China.
And now, it is WhatsApp.
Although it's unclear how long the messaging app may rest inaccessible inwards the country, according to Symbolic Software, a Paris-based query trouble solid that monitors WhatsApp's province of affairs inwards China, the province has restricted its users from sending fifty-fifty text-based WhatsApp messages inside its borders.
WhatsApp was seeing severe disruptions every bit early on every bit terminal Midweek when or as well as thence users reported WhatsApp disruptions inwards China, exactly at this time, the service has reportedly been completely blocked as well as exclusively accessible via VPNs (virtual individual networks) which tin circumvent China's mesh firewall.
But, inwards representative yous are unaware, PRC has begun a 14-month-long crackdown on VPNs as well as proxy services inwards the province as well as made it mandatory for all VPN providers to cause got a license from the authorities to purpose such services.
This deed of censoring the end-to-end encrypted messaging app comes ahead of adjacent month's 19th National Congress of the ruling Communist Party.
At this sensitive gathering, which takes house i time every five years, the Chinese authorities volition select novel leaders as well as attain upward one's ask heed policy priorities.
By preventing its citizens from using WhatsApp, Chinese authorities promise to forcefulness them to purpose the secure messenger alternatives similar WeChat, which offers the Chinese authorities alongside its citizens' personal data.
Neither WhatsApp nor its raise fellowship Facebook has provided whatsoever comment on this censorship.
The deed is a severe blow to the social media giant, whose principal website as well as app cause got already been banned inwards PRC since at to the lowest degree 2009. Facebook-owned Instagram is too blocked inwards the country.
Now alongside the blocking of WhatsApp, Facebook's exclusively left promise inwards PRC is the photo-sharing app, Colorful Balloons, which the social network stealthily released inwards the province terminal month.
