Chinese authorities crack down on WhatsApp ahead of major Communist Party congress

Chinese authorities seem to have heavily cracked down on the WhatsApp messaging app in a move to tighten censorship as they prepare for a major Communist Party congress next month.

Users in China have reported widespread disruption in recent days to the Facebook-owned service, which earlier malfunctioned in the country over the summer.

Though text messaging, voice call and video call services were restored today, voice messages and photos were not going through.

China has tightened online policing this year, and enacted new rules requiring tech companies to store user data inside the country. The rules also impose restrictions on what is permissible content.

Websites including Facebook, Twitter and a number of foreign media organisations have been blocked for years.

The WhatsApp troubles emerged ahead of the Communist Party congress on 18 October, when president Xi Jinping would get a second five-year term as the party's general secretary.

While Chinese company Tencent's WeChat messaging app is more widely used in the country, many WhatsApp users complained about the disruptions.

Some have noted that it would make it difficult to work with clients abroad.

WhatsApp is the only product from that is allowed to operate in China.

According to the BBC's China based correspondents, the WhatsApp messaging service started going offline more than a week ago.

When tested today, it showed that users in China could not send video messages or photographs to people outside China.

The disruption comes after restrictions on WhatsApp video chats and photographs in July, which were later lifted.

"The run-up period to a gathering is normally a time of greater restrictions of all kinds to assure that the critical Party Congress is held under ideal social conditions and is not disrupted", Robert Lawrence Kuhn, long-time advisor to China's leaders and multinational corporations, told the BBC.