China disrupts WhatsApp ahead of Communist meeting

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ Chinese authorities appear to have severely disrupted the WhatsApp messaging app in the latest step to tighten censorship as they prepare for a major Communist Party congress next month. Users in China have reported widespread disruptions in recent days to the Facebook-owned service, which previously malfunctioned in the country over the summer.

Text messaging, voice calls and video calls appeared to be working again today, though voice messages and photos were not going through. WhatsApp provides message encryption technology that likely does not please Chinese authorities, which closely monitor and restrict cyberspace through their “Great Firewall”.

China has tightened online policing this year, enacting new rules that require tech companies to store user data inside the country as well as restrictions on what is permissible content. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter and a slew of foreign media have been blocked for years.

The WhatsApp troubles emerged ahead of the Communist Party congress on October 18, when President Xi Jinping is expected to be given a second five-year term as the party’s general secretary. China usually steps up surveillance around major events.