China finally blocks voice chat app 'Clubhouse'

Emergency Measures Amid Heated Debates on Hong Kong Security Law and Taiwan Independence

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The voice chat social media app "Clubhouse" has finally been blocked in China. As it quickly gained popularity by serving as a free forum for discussion in a country where censorship is routine, the government took urgent measures.

According to U.S. IT media TechCrunch and others on the 8th (local time), Clubhouse has been inaccessible in China since around 7 p.m. that day. CNN reported that when attempting to log in to the application, a message saying "Cannot establish a secure connection to the server" appears. However, it can still be accessed by bypassing with a virtual private network (VPN), similar to Twitter.

Clubhouse was regarded as a liberated space in China for freely discussing politically sensitive topics such as the Xinjiang Uyghur human rights issue, the Hong Kong National Security Law, and Taiwan independence. This app, which is only available on iPhones, is not even listed on the Chinese Apple App Store, yet there were multiple rooms with thousands of participants. Users must receive an invitation from existing members to join, and invitation codes were traded for up to 400 yuan (approximately 69,000 KRW) on Chinese e-commerce sites like Taobao.

China had already anticipated the blocking of Clubhouse. Since the rise of President Xi Jinping’s administration, social media spaces have been strictly controlled. In fact, TechCrunch reported that chat rooms with the topic "When will Clubhouse be blocked (in China)?" attracted a large number of users, showing high interest. Abhisur Prakash, a geopolitical expert at Canadian consulting firm CIF, explained in an interview with CNBC, "China suppresses technologies that threaten government social control," adding, "The blocking of Clubhouse is nothing new."

Clubhouse, launched in the U.S. in March last year, is a social media platform that allows conversations using only voice, not text messages or videos. It recently became a hot topic when Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared his opinions on the GameStop stock surge. Initially, IT professionals in China began using it, but as word spread, highly educated experts from various fields joined.

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