As authoritarian countries around the world use internet censorship to stifle dissent, the popular messaging app WhatsApp has added a tool to aid users in circumventing censorship attempts.
Meta, which also owns Facebook, will allow users to use the messaging app to use proxy servers to hide communications and avoid regulations. Users must find their own proxy servers, many of which are free and provided by volunteers and organizations worldwide. After September’s anti-government rallies, Iran’s violent security crackdown blocked residents’ WhatsApp and Instagram access.
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WhatsApp supports users of restricted websites
WhatsApp supports censored internet users. Its move is noteworthy because it is the most popular texting service in many nations. It claims over 2 billion users in 180 countries.
The business said it hoped its solution would help prevent internet shutdowns in 2023. WhatsApp launched its Persian functionality separately.
Park Hyon-do, an Iran scholar at Sogang University in South Korea, said making WhatsApp easier for Iranians would help young, internet-savvy protestors by providing more information and linking individuals with shared problems. He stated that such efforts mostly reflected the hopes of foreigners to boost the protests.
WhatsApp cited a UN study on internet shutdowns that listed Myanmar and Sudan, where rights violations and poverty have sparked protests. Surfshark, an internet services company, reported that 44 governments had imposed internet blackouts in the past five years. Regimes were increasingly using less disruptive censorship measures, like website and service controls.
Individuals can get around government-sponsored internet restrictions with the help of proxy servers and VPNs. VPNs encrypt data. Such services substantially increased after Tehran partially restricted the internet in 2012. Iran-focused proxy servers will be set up by volunteers, according to a 2017 announcement from WhatsApp rival Signal, which a proponent of encryption and privacy founded.
WhatsApp safeguards proxy users
Users using proxy servers would, according to WhatsApp, enjoy the same “high level of privacy and security” as regular users, including end-to-end encryption by default. Furthermore, it exchanges user information with other Meta businesses, which privacy advocates have questioned. The tool assesses whether non-UD law enforcement requests for account records “are compatible with universally acknowledged norms, including human rights, due process, and the rule of law.”
WhatsApp’s new feature intends to assist individuals in emerging economies to avoid repressive regimes, but Facebook’s inadequate moderation rules make it vulnerable to abuse and disinformation from authoritarian governments and other negative actors. In 2021, Rohingya refugees sued Facebook for $US150 billion ($218 billion), claiming its algorithm amplified hate speech and supported Myanmar’s military junta’s genocide.
A Meta spokeswoman said that the Rohingya plaintiffs’ lawsuit was dropped last month. Plaintiffs could potentially refile their complaint.
Rights groups believe Myanmar’s authoritarian government uses internet shutdowns to hide its violence against democracy advocates and civilians.