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(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. app Clubhouse erupted among Chinese social-media users over the weekend, with thousands joining discussions on contentious subjects such as Taiwan and Xinjiang undisturbed by Beijing’s censors.
On the invite-only, audio-based social app where users host informal conversations, Chinese-speaking communities from around the world gathered to discuss China-Taiwan relations and the prospects of unification, and to share their knowledge and experience of Beijing’s crackdown on Muslim Uighurs in the far west region of Xinjiang.
Open discussion of such topics is off limits in China, where heavy government censorship is the norm. Unfavorable comments or articles are rapidly removed on platforms such as Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat and Sina Corp.’s microblogging platform Weibo.
As of Sunday, Clubhouse was accessible in mainland China without needing a VPN, which is commonly used to bypass the so-called Great Firewall and access foreign internet services from Gmail to Twitter. Clubhouse, backed by California-based venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, has skyrocketed in popularity following its debut in March 2020 after attracting high-profile users such as Elon Musk and Oprah Winfrey.
Since Clubhouse so far is only accessible on Apple Inc.’s iPhone and users must have a non-Chinese Apple account, the app has only gained traction among a small cohort of educated citizens, according to Fang Kecheng, a communications professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
“I don’t think it can really reach the general public in China,” he said. “If so, it will surely get blocked.”
Clubhouse did not respond immediately outside of business hours to an emailed request for comment on Chinese user requirements, content related to the country and if the government had reached out to it.
Media reports have suggested the Chinese company Agora Inc. helps support Clubhouse’s underlying platform, though the little-known developer of chat-service technology has so far refrained from commenting directly on a possible connection. Shares of the U.S.-listed Agora have more than doubled since mid-January to a lifetime high, helping boost its market value to more than $10 billion.
‘I Can Tell My Story’
On Friday night, a room attracted more than 4,000 people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait to share their stories and views on a range of topics including uniting the two sides.
In another room on Saturday, several members of the Uighur ethnic community now living overseas shared their experience of events in Xinjiang, where China has rolled out a widely criticized re-education program that saw an estimated 1 million people or more put into camps. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed with the Trump administration’s move to call China’s actions “genocide.” China has defended the policies, saying they are necessary to fight terrorism.