Instagram becomes latest victim of Chinese censorship

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-07-13

Instagram has been unavailable for download in China since July 10. (Internet photo)

After blocking Google and its services in China in June, China's internet censors blocked the popular networking app Line and Yahoo's photo-sharing platform Flickr on July 1, the day of massive democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong on the 17th anniversary of the territory's return to China. Instagram, the online photo and video sharing platform owned by Facebook, has now undergone a similar fate, reports Duowei, an outlet run by overseas Chinese.

Mainstream Android app stores removed Instagram on July 10, though it was still available on the Apple Store. Line is still downloadable, though its services have been rendered unusable.

Line and Flickr have not been informed of the reason behind the interruption to their services, nor do they know when they will be restored. Yahoo is aware of the issue and is investigating the problem, the company said in a statement. Te official website of Line meanwhile said it is working with the Chinese government to block banned keywords. A spokesperson for Line said it is necessary to "adjust to the customs of the Chinese market" — suggesting that it means to comply with the censorship of sensitive topics.

In an online post on July 9, it was claimed that the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China has ordered the removal of all overseas-based social networking services from Chinese app stores before a deadline on July 10. This has not been confirmed by state authorities nor by the media, however.

Beijing has tightened censorship of political discussion on the internet since the new Communist Party leadership was announced at the end of 2012 and there have been harsh punishments for internet users judged to have threatened domestic stability or criticized the government. The ongoing campaign against content deemed to be "rumors" and "pornography" has also had a chilling effect on online discourse.