China is reportedly preventing users of the country’s top messaging app from altering certain aspects of its platform, right as the country’s Communist Party is set to convene for its biggest event in five years.
WeChat, which has more than 800 million registered users, according to TechCrunch, is specifically barring its users from changing their nickname, tagline, or profile picture until the end of October, well after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is set to end. The features are an inherent part of any messaging platform, but they will be suspended presumably due to the fact that people often use them as a show of protest.
Just as Americans are known to do, users of WeChat, a social media platform, will often change their profile photo to include an expression of support for a certain cause or even a sports team.
The Chinese government essentially controls the quasi-private WeChat (much like the majority of domestic companies) when it deems necessary, and apparently the country doesn’t want users to demonstrate by adding messages or content that may make it look bad. It appears as if China expects an uptick of protests, particularly virtual and symbolic, as the communist delegates and elites of the country elect their leaders in what’s essentially a major political reshuffling.
And it’s not just WeChat. WhatsApp, a relatively secure messaging app, is being completely blocked, according to CNBC.
Such a restriction for social media freedom seems to be a pattern, especially for WeChat.
A number of high profile public accounts had been deleted with no reports of prior warning, according to an exclusive story by Foreign Policy. Trying to access those widely-followed WeChat profiles triggered messages that alleged that the account “has been repeatedly reported” for “violation of the rules.” The message also warned users to no longer follow those accounts.
Censorship in China is not new; the country is known for constraining freedoms on the internet. (RELATED: Netflix Show Lasted Three Days In China Before It Got Censored)
The Chinese government directed telecommunications companies to block their users from accessing virtual private networks (VPNs). Authorities later sentenced a man to nine months in jail for helping people circumvent government-mandated blocks on the internet by selling VPNs.
VPNs empower Chinese citizens with the ability to evade the Great Firewall of China, the colloquial term for the country’s system that prohibits a large portion of online activity and effectively allows officials to watch what people do online.
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