Sssshhh…don’t tell the Chinese regulators, but it looks like Facebook has finally made its way to China. Okay, the fact that we’re talking about it means eventually they will probably know about this. While the Chinese government has remained adamant about not letting social networks like Twitter and tech companies like Google operate within their country, Facebook may have found a way to sneak into their system. They created a photo-sharing app called Colorful Balloons and released it through a partner local company.
China has pretty strict censorship laws and the way that Facebook does its business has made it impossible for them to gain entry into the East Asian country. So what they did now is create an app that is like their photo-sharing app Moments, not put any Facebook branding anywhere in the app, and then even use messaging app giant WeChat as a sign-up and sign-in option for the app. It may have looked like a knock-off of the Moments app, but apparently, it really was an officially sanctioned Chinese version.
A representative from Facebook did not confirm this but they also did not deny it. “We have long said that we are interested in China, and are spending time understanding and learning more about the country in different ways,” the statement read. It’s a safe answer but can also be construed (or misconstrued) either way. They also admit that they’re focusing on helping local businesses and developers expand beyond China through their ad platform.
Now, let’s see if China has figured out that Colorful Balloons is Facebook in disguise and find an excuse to shut it down.
VIA: SlashGear
