BEIJING / HONG KONG (Reuters) – The private social audio app Clubhouse attracts masses of new users from mainland China, where the US app is uncensored by authorities, despite thriving discussions on rights, national identity and other sensitive issues.
Western social media programs, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, are banned in China, where the local internet is strictly censored to remove content that could undermine the ruling Communist Party.
The Clubhouse app, launched in early 2020, saw an increase in user numbers earlier this month after Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev held a surprise discussion on the platform .
Its chat rooms are only accessible via invitations from current members, and as of Sunday, invitations to the platform have sold for between 50-400 yuan ($ 7.73 – $ 69.59) on popular Chinese e-commerce sites.
Reuters observed several Chinese-speaking ‘club’ conversations where thousands of users listened to extensive audio discussions that included topics including Xinjiang detention camps, Taiwan independence and Hong Kong national law.
China’s cyber authorities have become increasingly strict in recent years, increasing the scope of applications, media and social media sites banned in the country.
Although Clubhouse is uncensored, it is only available on iOS devices and is not available in the local Apple app store, both of which are major barriers to its widespread use in China.
Chinese users from the mainland have access to the app by changing the location of their app store.
It’s unclear why the app remains blocked in China, although some foreign social sites with small Chinese followers manage to work under the radar of sensors, including 8kun, a central hub for QAnon followers.
In one club talk on Hong Kong politics, activists, journalists and artists discussed former US President Trump and his support base in the former colony.
Another popular Chinese club on the site was involved in a rare open exchange between netizens in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong on Saturday over political tensions in the region.
The discussion became a popular topic on China’s own Twitter social website Weibo on Saturday.
“I do not know how long this environment can last,” said one user in a popular Weibo report that has been viewed more than 65,000 times. “But I will definitely remember this moment in Internet history.”
($ 1 = 6.4664 Chinese yuan yuan)
Reporting by Cate Cadell and Pei Li, additional reporting by Jessie Pang in Hong Kong; Edited by Kim Coghill