WhatsApp enables users to connect via proxy to outflank repressive regimes
Service debuting feature to help combat internet restrictions
Popular messaging service WhatsApp says it will enable users to connect to the service through proxy servers in a bid to bypass the internet restrictions of repressive regimes.
Such servers can allow users to connect to the service despite blocking measures.
“Disruptions, like we’ve seen in Iran for months on end, deny people’s human rights and cut people off from receiving urgent help,” WhatsApp said in a statement. “Though in case these shutdowns continue, we hope this solution helps people wherever there is a need for secure and reliable communication.”
Proxies are set up by various organizations and volunteers to help users get through restrictions.
The company provided instructions on connecting through proxies, though users will need to find servers available in their location themselves.
In recent years authoritarian regimes have often blocked or heavily restricted access to the internet during unrest or mass protests in order to prevent the spread of information and limit the ability of dissenting individuals to organize.
Iran has faced mass protests against the regime following the September death of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini following her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women.
The authorities restricted access to Instagram and WhatsApp — until this autumn the last remaining unfiltered social media services — and then clamped down on apps like the Google Play Store as well as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) that seek to circumvent local access restrictions.
Iranians have long used VPNs to access sites blocked in Iran — even government officials including the foreign minister have Twitter accounts despite the network being blocked in the country.
