Audio-chat social networking app Clubhouse was shut down by the Chinese government this week, the latest victim of the country's strict censorship of what are deemed anti-China discussions online.
The shutdown of the social media app Monday came just days after it became the go-to mobile platform for uncensored discussions on a variety of sensitive topics that the government considers to be a risk to national security.
In recent days, Clubhouse became a popular platform for Chinese-language chat rooms where users talked about controversial topics such as Hong Kong's democracy, Taiwan's sovereignty, and the plight of the Uighur people in Xinjiang.
On Monday, Clubhouse users in China reported that they were no longer able to login to their account on the app. Others received error messages when trying to access the app, telling them that access to the server could not be made.
On Tuesday, the hashtag "Clubhouse" was also completely wiped out from the Chinese internet. This included mentions of the hashtag on the Chinese social media app Weibo. Reports claimed that users with mainland China phone numbers were no longer able to register or receive invites to chat rooms.
Several users were reportedly able to circumvent the so-called "China Great Firewall" by using a non-mainland phone number or a virtual private network service.
Those that were able to get through the country's censorship joined existing chat rooms discussing the blocking of the app. The users, who said that they were based in mainland China, confirmed that the app was being blocked.
"It is too rare an opportunity. Everyone has lived under the Great Firewall for so long, but on this platform, we can talk about anything It's like someone drowning, and can finally breathe in a large gulp of air," one user said.
Greatfire.org, a group that monitor's China's online censorship, said that the move was expected given the discussions that were being made on the platform. The group said that it was only a matter of time before the app would be blocked.
China has recently been attempting to crack down on the use of VPN services in the country. Currently, using a VPN service not approved by the government is illegal and punishable under the law.
