Facebook owned Whatsapp messaging app blocked in China ahead of October Communist party meet

In a bid to restrict internet access of citizens, The People's Republic of China has reportedly blocked several features of Facebook owned instant messaging mobile platform Whatsapp.

Chinese citizens who use the instant messaging mobile application found that they could not access the services first on September 19 and 23. This attempt is pegged to have been taken by the Chinese government ahead of the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China. 

Paris based crytographer Nadim Kobeissi told the New York Times that the this is not the usual way of blocking attempt by the Chinese government. Kobeissi is of the view that the Chinese must have invented some software that is interfering with the encryption technology of Whatsapp. 

Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg have expressed deep concern over the news of blocking of services by the Chinese authority since it has been his constant attempt to explore the Chinese market as Whatsapp is the only product that was still allowed. 

In this case it should be noted that Facebook as a social media paltform has been blocked in China since 2009. Other US based internet platforms that are blocked in China are Google and Twitter.