WhatsApp Seems to Be Another Victim of the Chinese Government’s Censorship

WhatsApp users from China fear they might soon not be able to use the app. They noticed how the service failed to send several pictures and videos but, when using a VPN server, the issues disappeared. This made them think that the problem wasn’t with the app itself, but rather with the government’s severe censorship.

• Chinese WhatsApp users have reported not being able to send photos or videos.
• Everything went back to normal if they used a VPN server.
• This means the app might be a new victim of the harsh censorship regime.

Chinese people fear that WhatsApp might soon be blocked in the country, as it doesn’t work when they are trying to send certain videos or images. They don’t blame it on WhatsApp, as the app works perfectly with a VPN connection. Instead, they suspect it might have become the latest victim of the government attempts to limit online content.

The baffled users have resorted to other social media apps, where they tweeted their confusion and wondered what could have happened with WhatsApp. Also, this is not the only censorship case. Weibo, China’s own version of Twitter, was also subjected to a similar monitorization.

Has #China blocked #whatsapp, or is it just a glitch? Can only access thru vpn since yesterday

— Jeremy Koh (@JeremyKohCNA) July 18, 2017

As expected, users are very upset of the situation, and are not happy about having to use a VPN connection every time they want to send a picture via WhatsApp. However, after several days of ‘blocking’, WhatsApp’s functionality seems to have returned, as many users reported everything was back to normal.

Facebook has already been highly censored in China, but WhatsApp managed to escape. Even so, it might be the next victim. Texts are, indeed, not affected by any block. However, if you try sending an image or a video, you either receive an error message or they appear as if they’re loading. The country is on a banning spree, and is trying to impose censorship on many means of communication.
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