Watch: China blocks WhatsApp ahead of Communist Party meeting

The surveillance move comes ahead of Communist Party meetingnext month.WhatsApp encryption technology makes it difficult for the government to closely monitor and restrict the cyberspace.

This is not the first time that China has blocked the service.Over the last few months, there have been a number of WhatsApp disruptions in China.

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The ban has forced Chinese users to switch to WeChat, a less secure local messaging app that the government can easily monitor.

Facebook has been blocked in China since 2009 and the Instagram app is also not available.