Instagram Blocked In Mainland China Following Protests In Hong Kong

For those who are familiar with China’s censorship, you guys probably know that pretty much a lot of services and social network websites that we take for granted in the US are blocked in China. Services like Google have been blocked (Android phones there don’t have access to Google Play, instead they rely on Baidu), and social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have been blocked as well.

Interestingly enough it seems that China’s government has largely left Instagram alone, despite it belonging to Facebook. Well it looks like that has finally changed. According to reports, it seems that the Chinese government has recently added Instagram to its block list. It seems that this was brought on during the recent protests in Hong Kong, in which Hong Kong’s residents were using Instagram to post photos of the protests (as seen in the image above).

If you haven’t been following the news, Hong Kong residents are not happy with a new proposal that would allow officials in Beijing to approve political candidates before election day, which some believe would make a mockery of the elections. Considering that Hong Kong was under the British rule for many years before returning to China, it is not surprising that many aren’t fans of the way the Chinese government operates.

Hong Kong protestors have used the #OccupyCentral hashtag to tag their photos of the protest. However it seems that while Instagram has been blocked in China, Hong Kong itself has been the exception as many Hong Kong residents are continuing to post photos on the photo sharing service.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Photo-Video
Tags: China, Instagram