Instant messaging service WhatsApp is Facebook’s only product which is allowed in Mainland China. However the service has been disrupted in recent times as the government takes measures to beef up security before the Communist Party meeting due to be held in October, 2017.The users of the service have been facing problems with the application since more than a week.
The service has been dropping in and out. There are also reports that the service at times is completely blocked and is only accessible with the help of the virtual private networks which are also known as the VPNs which can penetrate through the internet firewall. Other social network service and Instagram service of Facebook are not allowed to be operated in the country.
According to the reports by the China based correspondents, the WhatsApp messaging service started going offline since more than a week ago. It has been noticed that the users of the service in China are not able to send videos or images to people outside China. Such disruptions were placed earlier on th service but were later lifted.
The recent measures have been taken as the country prepares for the security of the upcoming Communist Party’s national congress which is held every five years. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, the old advisor to China’s leaders and multinational corporations said, “The run-up period to a gathering is normally a time of greater restrictions of all kinds to assure that the critical Party Congress is held under ideal social conditions and is not disrupted”. Kuhn added that it is not yet clear if the restrictions will be taken back in future, but many analysts have predicted that they will not be relaxed in future as well. Meanwhile , WhatsApp has remained silent over the issues and has so far not commented over the recent measures taken by the government.
Photo Credits: Catchnews
