Repressive regimes like Iran have suppressed freedom of speech with internet outages. Fortunately, WhatsApp proxy servers are here to help.
Its parent company Meta says the Iranian authorities have denied human rights and “cut people off from receiving urgent help.”
Yet, the tech giant assured everyone that “Connecting via proxy maintains the same high level of privacy and security that WhatsApp provides.”
Why did WhatsApp launch proxy servers?
Photo Credit: www.cnet.com
The Iranian people erupted into massive protests following the death of Mahsa Amini. She was a young woman who died after the country’s morality police arrested her.
Authorities denied they mistreated Amini and claimed she died of a heart attack. However, her family told the New York Times that she was healthy at the time of the arrest.
The death served as the last straw for the Iranians, sparking demonstrations that rapidly expanded throughout the country.
In response, the government has allegedly suspended nationwide internet access. The action led many people outside Iran to spread the word about the ongoing protests.
Eventually, Whatsapp decided to launch proxy servers, computers that provide internet access to specific services.
As a result, people outside the company could set up to maintain access to WhatsApp. The social media app published instructions on how to set up a WhatsApp proxy server:
“You can set up a proxy using a server with ports 80, 443, or 5222 available and a domain name (or subdomain) that points to the server’s IP address.”
Moreover, you may check its GitHub page for more information. WhatsApp says, “connecting via proxy maintains the same high level of privacy and security that WhatsApp provides.”
“Your personal messages will still be protected by end-to-end encryption,” the WhatsApp blog states.
As a result, the app assures communications “stay between you and the person you’re communicating with and are not visible to anyone in between.
Conclusion
Juras Juršėnas, from proxy and online data collection company Oxylabs, the WhatsApp proxy servers maintain everyone’s access to free, uncensored internet.
“It will allow people around the world to stay connected even if their internet access is blocked by some malicious actors,” he said.
Other companies have begun securing internet access for their devices. For example, the Apple iPhone 14 uses satellites to send SOS messages.