China has blocked WhatsApp, security experts confirmed today to The New York Times. Over the past few months, WhatsApp has experienced brief disruptions to service, with users unable to send video chats or photos. Now, even text messages are completely blocked, according to Nadim Kobeissi, an applied cryptographer at Symbolic Software, a Paris-based research firm that also monitors digital censorship in China.
“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 told The Verge.
Kobeissi found that China may have recently upgraded its firewall to detect and block the NoiseSocket protocolthat WhatsApp uses to send texts, in addition to already blocking the HTTPS/TLS that WhatsApp uses to send photos and videos. He said, “I think it took time for the Chinese firewall to adapt to this new protocol so that it could also target text messages.” His company noticed the app disruptions beginning last Wednesday.
It’s possible that the shut down is in anticipation of the Communist Party’s congress to be held in Beijing next month. WhatsApp may have been targeted because of its strong encryption features lacked by services like Skype and Apple’s FaceTime that are allowed to operate in China. Encrypted messaging could be used by political dissidents organizing against the government.
If the ban is lifted, it could serve as a show of power by the Chinese government, and might dissuade users seeking to rely on an encrypted messaging service in the country. But if the ban is left in place, it could disrupt businesses that rely on WhatsApp to communicate with customers. It would also be a big step back for parent company Facebook’s relations with China.
Facebook has long been banned in mainland China, like other foreign social media broadcasting services. But Facebook was discovered to have built a Chinese version of its private photo-sharing app Moments in China called Colorful Balloons and distributed it under the inconspicuous company name Youge Internet Technology. It’s unclear whether the Chinese government was aware that Facebook was behind the app prior to The New York Time’s expose .
Facebook reportedly built a censorship tool last year that could be applied to its main social network, which could appeal to Chinese regulators who currently maintain a ban on Facebook in the country. But the Colorful Balloons situation, the July partial ban of WhatsApp and today’s blockage could signal that Facebook’s relationship with China is fraying rather than strengthening.
As Facebook hits use growth saturation in many parts of the world, China remains an untapped opportunity for growth. The company has long held that partial access to its services, even with censorship, is better than no access, as it can connect people to loved ones and knowledge that can help them improve their lot in life. But working with censors and a government known for hostility toward human rights activists could force Facebook to contradict some of its values or leave dissidents vulnerable.
Given Facebook’s tricky situation at home in the U.S. as it deals with fake news and election interference initiated by Russian operatives, it may not have the bandwidth to focus on furthering relations with China.
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