The messaging service WhatsApp has been disrupted in China as the government steps up security ahead of a Communist Party meeting next month.<\/p>\n
Users have faced problems with the app for more than a week with services dropping in and out.<\/p>\n
At times, it has been completely blocked and only accessible via virtual private networks (VPNs) which circumvent China’s internet firewall.<\/p>\n
WhatsApp is Facebook’s only product allowed to operate in mainland China.<\/p>\n
Facebook’s main social media service and its Instagram image sharing app are not available on the mainland.<\/p>\n
Services disrupted<\/strong><\/p>\n The BBC’s China based correspondents said the WhatsApp messaging service started going offline more than a week ago.<\/p>\n A test of its services on Tuesday showed users in China could not send video messages or photographs to people outside China.<\/p>\n The disruption follows restrictions on WhatsApp\u00a0video chats and photographs\u00a0in July, which were later lifted.<\/p>\n The tightening of online censorship comes as China steps up security ahead of the Communist Party’s national congress which is held every five years.<\/p>\n “The run-up period to a gathering is a 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”, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, long-time advisor to China’s leaders and multinational corporations told the BBC.<\/p>\n However, he said it is not yet clear whether the restrictions will be relaxed as has happened after previous party congresses, adding that many analysts do not believe they will be.<\/p>\n WhatsApp has declined to comment on the latest clampdown.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The messaging service WhatsApp has been disrupted in China as the government steps up security ahead of a Communist Party meeting next month. Users have faced problems with the app for more than a week with services dropping in and out. At times, it has been completely blocked and only accessible via virtual private networks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[1173],"class_list":["post-356957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-whatsapp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=356957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=356957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=356957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=356957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}