App Where Chinese People Pay $100 to Get Invitations [Correspondent Diary]

US 'Clubhouse' Usage Spreads
Unlike Twitter and Facebook, Accessible to Chinese Users
High Possibility of Replacement by Chinese Apps After Suspension
Concerns Raised Over Press Freedom in China Cannot Be Ruled Out

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is having a discussion through Clubhouse.
[Photo by Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Those opposing the Chinese government's internet censorship policies are seeking freedom of expression by cyber asylum through American applications. This is because they can discuss conflicts between the U.S. and China, criticism of Chinese President Xi Jinping, and issues related to the Hong Kong National Security Law without government censorship.

The main player is an application called 'Clubhouse.' Clubhouse allows discussions using only voice, not text or video. It is accessible only through invitations among iPhone users.

Clubhouse first debuted in early last year and recently gained significant attention when Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood, shared opinions on the GameStop stock surge.

Since then, downloads of Clubhouse have surged in countries like South Korea and Japan, and many people in China are also using Clubhouse through various workarounds.

Although Clubhouse is not registered on China's Apple App Store, it can be downloaded in China if the account is switched to the U.S. According to Bloomberg News, from the 7th, Clubhouse became accessible in mainland China even without a virtual private network (VPN).

According to U.S. media, Clubhouse invitations were traded for up to $100 on Chinese e-commerce sites like Taobao. On Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, the hashtag '#Clubhouse' even ranked first in trending topics.

Chinese participants in Clubhouse freely discuss human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, Taiwan independence issues, Hong Kong national security, and virtual assets.

U.S. media express surprise that Clubhouse can be used in China while most Western social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are inaccessible there, but they believe Chinese censorship authorities are already closely monitoring it. It is expected that the use of Clubhouse in China will soon be halted.

However, similar apps to Clubhouse are expected to emerge in China as well. Just as Weibo imitated Twitter, it is anticipated that Chinese people will replicate American business models again. Justin Sun, founder of the Chinese virtual asset Tron, has claimed to have already launched an app with functions similar to Clubhouse.

U.S. media believe that even if a Chinese version of Clubhouse appears, it will not be able to fully replace Clubhouse due to the clear limitations of censorship. This highlights the absence of press freedom in China.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.