What messengers work in China
Since 1998, the Golden Shield project began operating in China. It was developed with the aim of controlling the Internet in the country. The filtering system blocks access to sites that, according to the Chinese government, are malicious and may pose a threat to national security.
Foreign Internet services find themselves in a difficult situation. They were faced with a choice: interact with the Chinese government, providing it with all the requested information, or leave the market of one of the largest countries in the world. This problem also affected popular global instant messengers. Not all companies agreed to cooperate with the authorities. As a result, they did not receive permission to work in China. Only some messengers are freely available. Therefore, upon arriving in the country, you can lose all the usual ways of communication.
Until October 2020, WhatsApp operated in China despite being owned by Facebook, with which the country's government has strained relations. However, before the 19th National Congress of the CPC, WhatsApp was blocked. Although there was official information that after the congress the ban was lifted, the messenger never restored its work in full. You can use WhatsApp, but don't be surprised if messages don't reach the recipient.
Viber
Viber was banned in China in 2014. The government wants to control all the information available to the country's citizens, and the company does not agree to provide it with all the information. There are no prerequisites yet that the situation will change. The program is opening in some border areas. But there is no point in sending messages via Viber, since most likely they will not reach the recipient. Video calling is also not available.
Telegram
Telegram has been banned in China since 2020. However, its work has been partially suspended. You won’t be able to register in the messenger, but you can use it if you have a ready-made account created in another country or in China before the restrictions were introduced. But still, there is no guarantee that the sent messages will be received.
Skype
Skype was officially allowed in China until the end of November 2020, when authorities announced that the service violated the country's laws. At the moment, the messenger is still functioning, but messages may not reach the interlocutor.
After Skype was banned, Apple was forced to remove the app from its App Store in China to avoid conflict with local authorities.
China has banned Skype
Telecom Internet
Web services
12/31/2010, Fri, 12:12, Moscow time, Text: Sergey Popsulin
Chinese authorities have allowed only two companies to provide residents of the Middle Kingdom with access to VoIP telephony - state-owned China Telecom and China Unicom.
Other providers have been outlawed, including Skype. For now, the service continues to operate in the country. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued a regulation that outlaws all companies providing VoIP telephony services other than China Telecom and China Unicom, People's Daily reports.
It is expected that as a result of this measure, the world's most popular Internet telephony service, Skype, and its analogues may be unavailable to residents of mainland China.
The ministry does not specify the date of entry into force of the document. The decision has already caused a wave of criticism in the media, since it effectively gives complete freedom of action to two state-owned operators, that is, it creates a monopoly.
According to information received by RIA Novosti from a respondent in China, the ban has not yet affected the performance of the Skype service in the country. Since September 2007, Skype has been providing services to users jointly with the Hong Kong company TOM Online. It also reported that the service is operating as usual.
Meanwhile, some Chinese Skype users have already complained on the Twitter microblog that they cannot download the program from Skype.tom.com, The Telegraph reports.
China has blocked all VoIP telephony providers with the exception of two state-owned companies
In China, a number of popular Internet resources are already under complete or partial ban - the social network Facebook, the microblogging service Twitter and the video hosting YouTube. However, many residents of the country use services in circumvention of the government ban.
According to the Associated Press, the Chinese government has set up several hotlines through which Chinese residents can report violations of the new law. Thus, regulators demonstrate their full willingness to protect the local market from competition.
For reference, a call from China to Japan or South Korea costs about 3.99 yuan (60 cents) per minute, compared to 10 cents per minute for Skype calls, or no charge at all if the connection is between system users.
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How to use familiar instant messengers in China
Despite the ban on many popular instant messengers, there are 2 ways that allow you to use them bypassing the blocking:
- Using a VPN . This technology prevents sites from collecting information about the user, in particular, about his location. VPN allows you to bypass blocking and access a prohibited site.
- Using roaming Internet . With a Russian SIM card, all messengers banned in China work flawlessly, even without a VPN. Mobile operators offer favorable roaming rates with unlimited internet.
The first method is suitable if you plan to stay in China for a long time, and the second if your stay in the country will not exceed 1-2 weeks.
How to use Skype: instructions for beginners
There are three types of Skype:
- Browser (Skype online)
- As a separate program for a computer
- As an app for your phone or tablet
This is the same program, just in different versions. And you can use all of them at once.
For example, install a computer version on a laptop, and an application on a smartphone. And use browser-based Skype on someone else’s computer.
Browser (Skype online) - this is the version without downloading. It simply works from a browser: from Google Chrome, Yandex, Mozilla Firefox or any other Internet program.
The computer program is Skype, which you must first download and install on your PC. This is convenient if you plan to use Skype regularly. The program will hang in the computer’s memory and as soon as someone wants to get in touch with you, it will immediately open.
An application for a phone or tablet is the same program, but only for a mobile phone. It will also hang in the device’s memory and as soon as someone calls or writes to you, it will be immediately activated.
How to log into your Skype
To log into your Skype, you must first launch the program. After this, the account will either open automatically or a login window will open where you will need to enter your data. You indicated them during registration: phone number or email, password.
How to open a program on a computer. To launch the computer version, open the Skype icon on your desktop (screen).
If the icon is not there, look for it in Start - All Programs.
Usually the program itself starts when you turn on the computer, and is always located on the taskbar and in the tray.
How to open the application. To launch the application, click on the Skype icon on the screen of your smartphone or tablet.
How to open Skype online. To log into browser-based Skype, follow the link web.skype.com.
The most popular messenger in China
It is perhaps difficult to find a Chinese person who does not use the WeChat messenger. It is popular even outside the country and has an English version. WeChat is used for both business and personal communication. It was created by the Chinese company Tencent in 2010, modeled after WhatsApp. Its main function is the exchange of text messages between users. But the developer did not completely copy WhatsApp, providing its application with the most diverse functions. Through WeChat you can chat, video chat, search for music, view news channels, subscribe to advertising mailings, and pay for purchases through the WeChat Pay e-wallet. To increase the popularity of the application among users, Tencent provides various bonuses for paying for purchases through the service. The messenger also has its own social network, similar to Instagram, where you can create lists of friends, create groups and maintain personal blogs.
The application is actively used by more than 938 million people. WeChat successfully competes with WhatsApp and Facebook messenger, which are popular all over the world. This is the most popular messenger in China. Those who decide to live or do business in the country will find it difficult to do without it.
Other applications are also banned
Since 2003, the so-called “Great Firewall of China” has been operating in the country, which limits the work of large social networks and instant messenger clients.
Skype is now not the only messenger blocked in China
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Those banned also include WhatsUp, facebook, twitter, telegram, line, Snapchat and gmail.
Very often, such resources become blocked for the reason that users may not register under real names and enter unreal data, maintaining anonymity, which, according to the Chinese government, should not be the case. All providers in the country must require only real information from subscribers and provide it to the government if necessary.
The country's laws have also recently placed restrictions on television broadcasts, the use of certain software (particularly VPNs), and the amount of time children are allowed to spend playing on the computer.
Other mobile communication applications
WeChat is not the only mobile app popular in China. There are others, no less famous. These are mainly Chinese versions of popular world programs.
One of these applications is Mobile QQ , which has been operating in China since 1999. In fact, it is an analogue of ICQ. It was developed by Tencent. It is one of the most famous platforms not only in China but throughout the world for text messaging. In addition, QQ offers users games, a dating service, cloud storage, and a file hosting service. The application has more than half a million active users.
Momo messenger was developed as an analogue of the world famous dating application Tinder. Gradually it turned into a social network. Users can search for partners by location so that they can meet in real life in the future. They exchange text messages, music, photos. The application has several unique features, such as purchasing stickers and emojis, organizing offline meetings. And for creators, paid content is a good way to make money.
Wangxin app is popular among shopping enthusiasts, both Chinese and foreign. It is closely connected with other Alibaba platforms. Here you can find a database of all buyers and sellers of the Taobao online store.
When going to China, you need to be prepared for the fact that many familiar mobile applications will not work here. If you absolutely cannot do without them, you will have to enable roaming or use a VPN. Or you can install local instant messengers, many of which are not inferior in popularity to global ones.
Grounds for blocking
Apple has received an official letter from the Ministry of Security stating that this application violates the law of the country. The same applies to all VOIP applications.
Company representatives say that this is a temporary measure and work is now underway to return Skype to the market as soon as possible. However, the Skype owners themselves do not provide such information about the return. Although the application cannot be downloaded from any service, already installed applications work.
Causes
Why is Skype banned in China? It is believed that such blocking is an indicator of the Chinese authorities, who are not happy with the fact that Skype in China uses algorithms that will prevent them from receiving any information about users.
How things really are
Is there really Skype in China? At the moment, Skype cannot be downloaded in any of the application stores (neither for Android nor for iOS), but for those who already have it installed, it still works. However, what will happen next in 2020 is not yet known. Most likely, Skype will continue to be banned in China.
New in blogs
The Chinese version of Skype has a spy module installed that reacts to regime-sensitive words and transfers personal correspondence and user data into the hands of interested parties, most likely Chinese intelligence services. This conclusion was reached by researcher from the University of New Mexico Jeffrey Nokel, as recently reported by Bloomberg Businessweek. The 27-year-old graduate student conducted his research for two years.
The version of the program used by Chinese citizens is called TOM-Skype, after the name of the local company that has the exclusive right to distribute the Skype distribution in this country. It is a subsidiary of a Chinese Internet service provider.
Jeffrey proved that TOM-Skype checks user messages for unwanted words. As soon as such a word appears, the conversation ceases to be private.
[Jeffrey Nockel, graduate student at the University of New Mexico]: “So when you use one of these keywords in your message, that message is sent to the TOM servers, along with information about the sender, recipient, date and time.”
As Nokel discovered, among these keywords there are precisely those concepts that are considered “sensitive” by the Chinese communist regime. These include Tiananmen Square, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, BBC News, Falun Gong and others.
In China, 96 million people use Skype. Worldwide - 600 million.
[Jeffrey Nockel, graduate student at the University of New Mexico]: “They're also under surveillance. If a person simply uses TOM-Skype, any message sent or received by him gives a signal for tracking.”
In 2011, Skype was purchased by Microsoft. In January of this year, a group of activists from more than 40 organizations and 60 individuals addressed the company with an open letter, which contained a demand to disclose exactly what it does with the user data it receives.
Formally, Skype says it protects the privacy of its users. Chats, video calls and file transfers should be encrypted. However, in response to a request from Bloomberg, Microsoft said that TOM-Skype must comply with the legal requirements of the Chinese authorities.
After the Bloomberg publication, people started talking about a similar problem in Russia. As the Vedomosti newspaper reported on Thursday, citing experts in the field of information security, Microsoft provides the ability to monitor conversations of Skype users and Russian intelligence services.
