By Shutting Down the Internet, Whatsapp Has Made It Harder for Censors to Censor Citizens

January 06, 2023 By Raulf Hernes

(Image Credit Google)

WhatsApp added a new feature to help people avoid government-imposed Internet shutdowns, which the UN said last summer worked to undermine human rights. "To assist, we are planning to launch proxy support for WhatsApp users across the globe today," WhatsApp said in a statement. "What this means is that we're giving people the ability to keep using WhatsApp even if their connection is blocked or disrupted." The new proxy support feature in WhatsApp allows users to connect to the app via servers set up by volunteers and organizations all over the world. The feature is now available to every user who has the most recent version of the app. Users can also create their own proxy servers to assist others in connecting to WhatsApp.

WhatsApp did not respond immediately to Ars' request for comment on how long this function has been in the works. The messaging app cited Internet "disruptions like we've seen in Iran for months on end" that "deny people's human rights and completely cut off from receiving urgent help" as the primary motivation in its statement. According to the spokesperson, WhatsApp "began putting the capability into the app for the last few months of last year, so people would get the new tech on their device as they upgraded their device." The company is asking community partners and users to spread the word about the feature in communities that are especially vulnerable to Internet outages. WhatsApp users in places where the Internet has been shut down by the government can access the app via a proxy server. All communications will be secured by end-to-end encryption, "making sure they stay between you and the person you're interacting with". The total cost of 114 "major deliberate Internet outages" in 23 countries are expected to be close to $24 billion in 2022. [caption id="attachment_31373" align="alignright" width="1247"]

WhatsApp[/caption] According to Top10VPN, Russia was the "single most affected nation," with Internet outages costing $21.59 billion, while Iran's outages cost $773 million. Approximately 51% of government Internet outages were linked to additional human rights violations, such as restrictions on assembly or freedom of the press. With 710 million people reportedly affected by these outages last year, WhatsApp's new feature aims to provide at least one secure way for governments to prevent abrupt or persistent censorship of citizens through Internet shutdowns by 2023.

By Raulf Hernes

If you ask me raulf means ALL ABOUT TECH!!

By Shutting Down the Internet, Whatsapp Has Made It Harder for Censors to Censor Citizens

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