WhatsApp Partially Blocked
Source: Telegraph.co.uk, Associated Press, NYTimes
WhatsApp users in China have reported problems with the messaging app sparking fears the service could have been blocked by authorities.
People trying to access WhatsApp from within China said they were having difficulties with the app and were unable to send or receive picture and voice messages.
Some users reported that the only way to use the app properly was through tools that circumvent the country's strict internet blocks, dubbed the Great Firewall.
The problems have led users to speculate that the Chinese Government could have partially blocked WhatsApp, which offers users more privacy from spying authorities than alternative apps because it uses end-to-end encryption.
Nadim Kobeissi, a cryptography researcher looking at the WhatsApp problems, told the AP picture and voice messages appeared to be blocked, but that text was still working.
It is highly unlikely Chinese authorities could circumvent WhatsApp's encryption to read or alter sent messages, as they can in WeChat, Kobeissi said. But other researchers suggested the Government could eventually block WhatsApp altogether.
"It would not be surprising to find that everything on WhatsApp gets blocked, forcing users in China to use unencrypted, monitored and censored services like WeChat," a censorship researcher who goes by the name Charlie Smith told the AP.
Authorities have long said social media poses a threat to national security and Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been inaccessible from within China for a number of years.
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