BEIJING - One Chinese app briefly gave the country's Internet users access to long-banned websites like Facebook Inc and Google, setting off speculation about the future of Beijing's censorship practices.
But the browser stopped functioning Saturday and disappeared from the mobile app store run by Huawei Technologies Co. It's unclear whether a government agency had ordered its removal. Beijing maintains rigid control over its Internet sphere, requiring companies from Tencent Holdings Ltd to TikTok-owner ByteDance Ltd to censor and scrub content critical of the government or its policies.
Mainland Chinese commonly use VPNs to bypass the Great Firewall - the name given to the blockade of an array of foreign Internet services from Gmail to Twitter that's stood for over a decade. There are numerous WeChat posts on it, and a reporter from state media outlet Global Times promoted the app in a Twitter post. Tuber was made available only for Android phones, according to its website.
"Because of Google internal politics, they don't want to make a China-compliant version so there's a clear opportunity for someone to do that," said Mr Bishop."But it's easier said than done."