Fears of Whatsapp censorship in China

Users of Whatsapp in China have reported widespread disruption amid fears the messaging service is being partially blocked by authorities.

Whatsapp users in China reported on other social media platforms that the app was partly inaccessible unless software was used to circumvent China’s censorship apparatus, known colloquially as The Great Firewall.

Whatsapp, which is owned by Facebook and offers end-to-end encryption, has a relatively small following among users seeking more privacy from government snooping than afforded by domestic app Wechat, which is ubiquitous but closely monitored and filtered.

Questions over Whatsapp’s status come at a politically fraught time in China. The government is in the midst of preparing for a sensitive party congress, while Chinese censors this week stepped up efforts to remove all mention of Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who died last Thursday in government custody.