China’s decision to block messaging services like Kakao Talk and Line comes as part of the government’s terrorism curbing measures, said South Korea’s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning on Thursday.
The South Korean authority said China confirmed it restricted the apps to prevent “terrorists to plot or incite attacks or spread information for building bombs.” Didi, Talk Box and Vower are some of the other apps making it to the blocked app list.
It’s been a month that service of a few foreign messaging apps in China has been disrupted by a since July 1.
The South Korean ministry said China has strong evidence which indicates that terrorist organizations were using mobile messaging apps and video websites to plot attacks and spread information about how to make bombs.
However, the ministry said it is in continuous negotiations with relevant Chinese authorities to ensure that service disruptions for KakaoTalk and Line as well as inconvenience for the users in China gets resolved as early as possible.
China maintains tight control over the Internet as it has also blocked access to a host of websites including YouTube and Twitter through a system known as the “Great Firewall.”
KakaoTalk is operated by South Korea’s Kakao Corp., while messaging application, Line, is run by a Japan-based subsidiary of South Korea’s Naver Corp.
A spokeswoman at Kakao Corp acknowledged the disruptions but declined to comment further.
A spokesman for South Korea’s Naver Corp said it’s aware of the blockage but declined any further comment on the matter.
Source: Reuters
