WhatsApp messenger partially blocked in China

On July 18, Chinese authorities partially blocked the WhatsApp messenger, the last service owned by the social network Facebook that has not yet been banned in the country. The New York Times writes about this.

WhatsApp users are reportedly unable to send photos and videos, and the blocking has prevented some from sending text messages. Experts also confirmed information about the blocking of the messenger in China.

As the publication notes, WhatsApp is popular all over the world, but in China its audience is relatively small - the most popular messenger in the country is the WeChat service. However, WhatsApp remained one of the few services available in the Middle Kingdom that provide the ability to exchange encrypted messages.

According to a technology policy adviser to the Chinese government, who wished to remain anonymous, officials want to demonstrate by blocking WhatsApp that they are doing their job, and such activity is associated with the fall congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

Presumably, the reason for blocking WhatsApp could be the death of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and the desire of users to say goodbye to him. So, the very next day after Xiaobo’s death, the authorities began to delete messages related to this event from social networks. Even personal messages and harmless pictures on WeChat were filtered, writes TJ .

Let us remind you that the day beforeit became known that WeChat and the Chinese microblogging service Weibo censored posts containing the Chinese name of Winnie the Pooh and images with him. Experts believe this purge is also linked to the party congress, whose leader, Xi Jinping, has previously been compared to a plump bear.