Amidst the Chinese regime’s ever-escalating crackdown on free speech and freedom of the internet, WhatsApp has become the latest victim, as users in China
Amidst the Chinese regime’s ever-escalating crackdown on free speech and freedom of the internet, WhatsApp has become the latest victim, as users in China report that the private messaging app has been blocked by the Chinese regime.
Numerous reports from WhatsApp users inside China indicate that the app became partially blocked beginning the night of July 17, as videos or pictures sent by users were no longer reaching their intended recipients. At that time users reported that text messages still went through normally. However, recently some users have reported that even text messages have been blocked.
The regime has long blocked other popular Western social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube through its “Great Firewall, ” the unofficial name for the sophisticated internet censorship system used to control all aspects of online activity in China.
Users can still use a virtual private network (VPN) to send text and media content through WhatsApp, just as with other blocked Western websites and applications.
