I’ve been getting reports of Viber being blocked in mainland China since this morning, but my contacts in the country reported that they were having no problems at all using the application, which struck me as strange.
After doing a bit of research between articles, I discovered via GreatFire.org that the service is only showing “71 percent” blocked, so either my contacts are lucky or they’re not blocked yet.
The news was also reported by TechinAsia earlier today, so that’s about as close to a confirmation as we’re able to get at this time.
China has been cracking down on messaging apps lately
China has been cracking down on messaging apps lately and Viber is not the first app to be blocked.
A lot of these blocks are occurring due to Hong Kong protests and other reasons. It’s difficult to say if the block on Viber will be permanent or, like LINE and KakaoTalk in July, will be restored after a couple of weeks or so. I’ll be sure to post an update should this occur.
As for other messaging apps, I’m not receiving any news yet that there are any problems aside from those already blocked, including Snapchat. Be sure to post in the comments below if Viber is or isn’t working for you or if you’re experiencing problems with other apps in the country.
Thanks to all for the tips!