China Bans Facebook-Owned WhatsApp Again, Maybe For Good

China Bans Facebook-Owned WhatsApp Again, Maybe For Good

September 25, 2017
SHARE
Chinese WhatsApp users have found the app completely inaccessible for the past several days, leading some to speculate that the writing may be on the wall for the Facebook-owned application.
Nadim Kobeissi, an applied cryptographer at Symbolic Software in Paris, has been monitoring China’s ban on WhatsApp as a part of its overall research of censorship in China. Kobeissi told the Verge their findings:
“Essentially, it seems that what we initially monitored as censorship of WhatsApp’s photo, video, and voice note sharing capabilities in July has now evolved to what appears to be consistent text messaging blocking and throttling across China.”
Kobeissi believes that China’s firewall may have recently been upgraded to block the Noisesocket Protocol, which WhatsApp uses to send texts. This block, along with the HTTPS/TLS ban, is what is preventing users from accessing WhatsApp.
This spells bad news for FaceBook should they still be eyeing the Chinese market; now, Colorful Balloons, a secretly-released photo-sharing app akin to FaceBook moments, is its only stake on the Mainland.
MOST READ
    HAPPENING NOW
      Heather Johnson Yu

      Heather Johnson Yu
      Born at a very young age; self-made thousandaire. Recommended by 4 out of 5 people that recommend things. Covered in cat hair. Probably the best sleeper in the world. Still haven't completed the civil war quest in Skyrim but I'm kind of okay with that. Too rad to be sad.

      SHARE THIS ARTICLE:

      RELATED STORIES FROM NEXTSHARK

      MORE STORIES FROM NEXTSHARK

      © 2023 NextShark, Inc. All rights reserved.