Rejoice! Instagram unblocked in Chinese mainland

By Ryan Kilpatrick, January 24, 2015

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China-based Instagram fans, your prayers have been answered! Users from across the land are reporting today that they can finally use the beloved app once again.

Access to the US photo-sharing service owned by Facebook has been blocked since late September, when pro-democracy protests erupted in Hong Kong and user-uploaded images of the Occupy demonstrations started flooding people's photostreams - forcing Chinese censorship to hit an historic overdrive.

With the last Occupy settlement cleared from Causeway Bay on December 15 and some semblance of harmony restored (for now), it appears authorities are feeling comfortable enough to let people share photos again, at least until an equally photogenic challenge to their rule arises.

It'll have to be a cautious rejoicing for Instafans, however - lest we forget that brief but glorious window when Google was unblocked in the mainland last July, only to have the bamboo curtain 2.0 descend once again.

READ MORE: China's renewed war on foreign internet traffic

UPDATE: Users in Beijing have reported that Instagram remains blocked in the capital, although access is still open in Shanghai and elsewhere.

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