WhatsApp is a free and secure instant messenger that you can use to keep in touch with all your friends or family. You can download and install it on all platforms.
Downloads: 20617
Release date: 12/12/2022
Author: whatsapp
License: Free license
Categories: Communication
Operating system: Android, online service All Internet browsers, Windows 10/11, Windows 32 bit – XP/Vista/7/8/10/11, Windows 64 bit – XP/Vista/7/8/10/11, iOS iPhone , Mac OS
WhatsApp plays censorship. The Meta subsidiary announced in a blog post published on January 5, 2023 that it was now possible to connect to the instant messaging service via proxy servers.
WhatsApp wants to help the Iranian people
Concretely, this allows any user to continue to send and receive WhatsApp messages, even if access to the service has been blocked in the country. The use of a proxy makes it possible to thwart censorship, since the connection is not made directly to the company’s servers, but through a “relay machine configured by volunteers and organizations around the world” which then transmits the data to WhatsApp’s servers redirects. This makes it almost impossible for internet service providers to block access to the instant messaging tool unless they block internet access entirely.
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The company does not hide that it launched the feature to help the Iranian people, whose access to WhatsApp has been blocked for several months. “These cuts, which have been going on for several months, violate human rights by preventing the population from receiving urgent assistance,” the company wrote in its announcement post. Of course, even when connected to a proxy server, the messages remain end-to-end encrypted so as not to be too indiscreetly grinding grain on your ears.
Using a proxy on WhatsApp is not very complicated. Just go to the app settings, go to the section Data Use and Storage then fill in Proxy Settings in the appropriate section. The hardest part is finding the address of a trusted proxy provider. WhatsApp advises going through “social networks or search engines”.
WhatsApp joins Signal and other messaging apps that have already implemented proxy systems to bypass censorship. However, using proxies is not an unbeatable solution against censorship. As with VPNs, it is possible for ISPs to block access to a specific server once it is known to exist. However, the larger the number of proxy servers, the harder it is to find them all.
If you’re feeling like a militant hacker, the company’s GithHub has instructions on how to set up a WhatsApp proxy server.
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