Avast is blocked in China
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 03/03/2015 11:08 PM
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Data from GreatFire.org says popular security software company Avast is the latest overseas technology company to get caught in China’s censorship net and has been unavailable since Sunday.
Avast claims over 220 million global users of its antivirus and security products for Windows, Mac and Android.
Reuters also claims that security vendors Symantec and Kaspersky Lab had been removed from a list of approved anti-virus software vendors for state organizations.
An Avast spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Avast is being blocked in China and that we are actively investigating the situation.”
Avast has a VPN component to its software and it is speculated that China is cracking down on VPN services.
It isn’t clear why Avast is blocked, as is very often the case with censorship in China, but the incident is another factor that underscores the growing challenge of doing business in China.
Avast claims over 220 million global users of its antivirus and security products for Windows, Mac and Android.
Reuters also claims that security vendors Symantec and Kaspersky Lab had been removed from a list of approved anti-virus software vendors for state organizations.
An Avast spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Avast is being blocked in China and that we are actively investigating the situation.”
Avast has a VPN component to its software and it is speculated that China is cracking down on VPN services.
It isn’t clear why Avast is blocked, as is very often the case with censorship in China, but the incident is another factor that underscores the growing challenge of doing business in China.
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