The new audio based social media app is bound to lose a large number of users from China. Why? Because the Chinese Government decided to ban the app in the country.

Just as Clubhouse was gaining momentum all over the world, Chinese authorities banned the platform. This is not a surprise though, as the authorities have banned popular US based social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google.

According to The Guardian, the reason Clubhouse has been banned is due to a hashtag on Weibo, the popular Chinese social media platform. The hashtag refers to Clubhouse as “The Renaissance of China”, and there were several politics related rooms created in Clubhouse that Chinese users were joining, such as “Have you been invited to have tea for using Clubhouse?”. Users said this “having tea” phrase is used to describe the interrogation by the police force. In the rooms, the ongoing pressure imposed on Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and the democracy of Hong Kong were also discussed, which are two highly sensitive topics according to the Chinese authorities.

It is also said that Chinese users were already using VPN to access to the platform, as they find it dangerous to give out their real IP addresses just in case.

This is the story for now. With this growing rate, we will see how Clubhouse is perceived and what it faces in other countries soon. Let us know what you think about Clubhouse, and join the conversation on our social media.