After messing around with WhatsApp back in July, China’s infamous Net Nanny appears to have once again at least partially blocked the Facebook-owned app in the mainland, according to annoyed users.
Earlier today, many took to Twitter to complain about yet again being unable to log onto the social media app.
i think china just blocked Whatsapp ??♂️
Right now my whatsapp not working without VPN. Disaster! Hello China’s mr.president are serious doing this to us? Come on laa ??
Dear friends, WhatsApp has officially been blocked in China, please don’t get mad I’m not ignoring your messages.
Seriously … #whatsapp is now blocked in China too?!?! #vpn365days
Indian investment site Moneycontrol speculates that China is disrupting WhatsApp services in order to eliminate one of the last remaining outside competitors to WeChat, China’s most popular social media app and one that the government holds control over.
But, is this a total block or is the Net Nanny just messing around once again? During our tests in Shanghai, we found that the official WhatApp page was still accessible without VPN, and we were also able to send messages through the app. However, we could not sign up as a new user onto the platform since the app couldn’t process the request for a confirmation text message required to verify the phone number.
At the same time, VPNs have been more finicky than usual today.
Anyone else experiencing almost total VPN breakdown in Beijing this morning?
Have you experienced any trouble signing into or sending messages through WhatsApp? Let us know.
By Máté Mohos