While the Iranian government has tried to block WhatsApp on several occasions to contain the protests, the WhatsApp messaging service added, on January 5, an option to connect to the platform through an intermediate server between the user and the application.
Many Iranian internet users use a VPN to bypass online censorship. Countries that prohibit access to the app effectively block access to the WhatsApp servers. This new option will allow you to manually choose a server, called a proxy. The latter will have a different address than the WhatsApp servers and will therefore be more difficult for the authorities to block.
Now available
“Connecting through a proxy server maintains the high level of privacy and security that WhatsApp offers.” Therefore, the proxy connection will not have any impact on the end-to-end encryption of WhatsApp.
The company says the option is now available to anyone using the latest version of its iOS or Android apps. To do this, go to the menu storage and data in the settings.
Source: BFM TV
