The Chinese government in its eagerness to control any type of communication, does not hesitate to block the communications of an application so that users stop using it. One of the most recent cases is found in WhatsApp, an application that completely stopped working a few months ago, although previously he was only allowed to send text messages.
On other occasions, the government urges the different application stores to withdraw an application because it violates a new regulation that has been pulled from the sleeve to be able to justify its prohibition and force users to stop using it. The last affected in this regard has been Microsoft and the Skype application.
Apparently, the Chinese government has updated its legislation regarding communications via the Internet, and as usual, since it cannot block communications directly, has requested the withdrawal of Skype from the app stores where it was available until now. Microsoft has confirmed the withdrawal of its application in China with a brief statement:
The Skype version has been temporarily removed from the app store in China. We are working to restore the application as soon as possible.
Fortunately for all those users who have the application installed, the communication service via Internet, either through video or only through audio. it keeps working without any problem, which justifies that the government has requested the withdrawal since it has been powerless when it comes to blocking the service as if it did with WhatsApp.
The withdrawal of this app is a half solution, especially within the Android ecosystem, where we can download the application from the Internet and install it on any terminal without having to go through the hoop of the Google application store. At the moment, the reasons why the government has requested the withdrawal of the application have not been disclosed, but we hope it is not another movement to restrict the few freedoms that the citizens of the country currently have.
