Hidemyass VPN (Photo : Google Play)
Despite the tight guarding of China’s cyberspace using the Great Firewall of China, Google managed to bypass the electronic sentries in March 2016 for two hours.
However, about 10 million users of Twitter, the most popular microblogging site in the world, could tweet from mainland China. Techcrunch reported that these members go around the firewall by connecting to Twitter using VPN software which permits the tech-savvy Chinese users to use internet connections outside China.
When they use a VPN, it would appear as if they were located in another country of their choice, effectively bypassing China’s firewall.
However, the 10 million Chinese Twitter users comprise just roughly three percent of Twitter’s 310 million users, 65 million of whom are in the U.S. and the remaining ones in other countries. In contrast, China has about 688 million internet users or about 50 percent of the country’s headcount.
Chinese netizens who do not have access to VPNs instead use Weibo and WeChat as alternative local microblogging sites. But despite the share of mainland users tweeting relatively small, Charlie Smith, one of the founders of Great Fire, an anti-censorship group, pointed out, “If there are 10 million Chinese on Twitter that is great new. Twitter is one of the last great bastions of relatively free speech. When was the last time 10 million Chinese could freely say what they feel, on any platform, without fear of reprisal?”
In its listing of the best VPNs in China, Techcrunch named HideMyAss as the top, based on a speed of 502 kbps and 98 percent stability. It was followed by VyprVPN (437, 98 percent), Astrill (440, 96 percent), FreeBrowser (429, 82 percent), Lantern (287, 94 percent) and VPNSecure (212, 86 percent).
