The vocal social network ClubHouse gets blocked in China

Clubhouse, an uncensored app that had allowed Chinese internet users to freely discuss taboo topics such as the mass detention of Uyghurs, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and the concept of Taiwan's independence, appeared to have been blocked on Monday.

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This new kind of American audio application allows users to listen to and participate in live conversations, freely moderated in

virtual

“

rooms

”.

Access is by invitation only, which reinforces the VIP aspect of this social network which is currently used by 2 million people around the world.

Clubhouse is only available on Apple devices, which only the wealthiest Chinese consumers can afford.

In recent days, Chinese netizens had filled these "

rooms

" to discuss subjects usually subject to censorship, such as Beijing's incarceration of predominantly Muslim Uyghur communities in the Xinjiang region.

But on Monday night at Chinese time, the app showed an error message to users who didn't have a VPN to establish a secure connection, and Chinese-speaking rooms quickly turned to the ban discussion. of the application.

A window that quickly closed

"

I saw many rooms discussing cross-strait issues and sensitive issues ... and I thought this app wouldn't last too long,

" lamented a Chinese-speaking user after the app was blocked. , referring to the thorny problem of Taiwan.

“

What comes after the blockage is the compilation of the list of people on the platform,

” worries another.

Over the weekend, the number of discussions in Chinese had attracted more attention, especially on the Twitter platform.

"

A young woman from mainland China has just said on Clubhouse: this is the first time that I am going on the real internet

", had tweeted Sunday Isabelle Niu, a journalist listening to a conversation.

Many of those who listened to the conversations on Clubhouse were fascinated by the frankness of the online chats.

But specialists had warned that it was likely that Beijing would end up preventing access to the application.

"

The window to listen to candid conversations of Clubhouse on Chinese policy is already closing,

" said Fergus Ryan, of the International Center for Cyber ​​Policy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, before the ban.