WhatsApp Still Used In Countries That Prohibited It

Whatsapp is still used in the country that blocks it (photo: dock. pexels)

JAKARTA - WhatsApp, with an estimated two billion monthly active users, is the most popular instant messaging app worldwide. But it seems that many users of the platform are in countries where WhatsApp has been controversially blocked, such as China and North Korea.

Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp on Meta, said the 'tens of millions' of people in these countries are using technical methods to secretly access the chat app.

One example is a virtual private network (VPN), which makes users look connected to the internet from different locations. However, China recently stepped up its campaign against WhatsApp by removing it from Apple's App Store.

So far WhatsApp has been blocked in China, North Korea, Syria and Qatar, while the features of the application are severely restricted in Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.

"We have a lot of anecdotal reports about people using WhatsApp [in these countries," Cathcart was quoted as saying by VOI from BBC News. You'd be surprised how many people have found the way.

According to the tech boss, WhatsApp staff can see where users are by looking at their registered phone number, which has a typical international state code at the front.

"What we can do is look at some countries where we see blocking and still see tens of millions of people connected to WhatsApp," he said.

In China, the government has blocked WhatsApp since 2017, although the VPN has offered potential loopholes for people in the country since then.

People visiting China must arrange VPNs to access WhatsApp there, as well as other blocked Meta apps such as Facebook and Instagram.

However, last month, the Chinese government ordered Apple to remove WhatsApp from China's App Store, making it even more difficult for people to use it.

Cathcart called China's decision to remove WhatsApp "fortunate", but added that the country was not the main market for the app.

WhatsApp also lets users connect to the messaging app via a proxy server for the first time to allow users to stay online even when there is an internet blocking or block on the spot.