Oct 12, 2020 17:00:00

Sudden removal of Internet censorship avoidance app, which has skyrocketed in China

The browser app called ' Tuber ' that was deployed in China became a hot topic in China as an app that can avoid the strict censorship of the Chinese government on the Internet and gained popularity. However, on October 10, 2020, Tuber will be unavailable without any warning, and the download page of the app will be completely deleted.

Chinese App Helps Users Bypass Great Firewall --Then Disappears --Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-10/chinese-app-provides-legal-access-to-get-over-the-great-firewall

Chinese app called Tuber provides a still-censored look over Beijing's'Great Firewall' | South China Morning Post
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3104949/chinese-app-called-tuber-provides-still-censored-look-over-beijings

Tuber is an app that allows you to access websites such as Google, Instagram, and Facebook, which are prohibited in China, without using an illegal virtual private network (VPN) . There have been tools in China that could dodge government censorship without using a VPN, but Chinese media praised Tuber as 'an app that shows that China's Internet has been opened.' As a result, the number of downloads has skyrocketed.

Tuber was launched as an Android app in late September 2020, and was distributed only on the app store AppGallery operated by Huawei, and has recorded more than 5 million downloads. While Tuber's access to regulated websites in China was a major attraction, it was also reported that some content was restricted from viewing. For example, if the name of the Xi Jinping Jintao from YouTube via Tuber to search in Chinese and English, Shanghai and that the account could not be seen only uploaded seven movies you think that the television stations, such as Macau.

Tuber, which was gaining popularity in China, became unavailable on October 10, 2020, and the download page has been completely removed from the App Gallery. 'Maybe the Chinese government has asked Huawei to remove it,' said Rich Bishop, CEO of AppIn China, another Chinese app store.

The Chinese government strictly controls the Internet by using the

Great Firewall that monitors Internet users from accessing information that is inconvenient for the government, and many companies censor and delete content that is critical of policy from the government. You are required to do. It is believed that the existence of Tuber sneaking through this censorship was removed because it was determined to be inconvenient for the Chinese government.

In addition, Tuber can easily identify individual Tuber users because it requires registration of a phone number when registering an account, and because the Citizen Identification Number , which is a personal identification number in China, is linked to the phone number. What you can do is also pointed out by the news site Bloomberg.

Bloomberg inquired the Cyberspace Administration Bureau, which manages the Internet in China, for details on the removal of Tuber, but there was no response. In addition, 360 Security Technology, which operated Tuber, did not give a specific explanation about the deletion of Tuber at the time of writing the article, and it became clear why the deletion and how the user's personal information will be handled. Is not ...