A new Chinese browser claims to let people legally visit foreign websites

The browser is marketed as the first legal tool in China to let people visit sites like Facebook, Google and YouTube… but it still censors searches

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A new Chinese browser claims to let people legally visit foreign websites

Xinmei Shen

Published: 10:00am, 15 Nov 2019Updated: 10:00am, 15 Nov 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

China’s Great Firewall is known to frustrate the country’s internet users by blocking many of the world’s most popular websites. So when one company offered what it called a legal way to hop the wall, many netizens pounced on the opportunity.

The story of China’s Great Firewall, the world’s most sophisticated censorship system

Kuniao, which means “cool bird,” is a new browser marketed as China’s first legal tool to allow visits to “popular foreign websites,” including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google, Reddit and Instagram. The company says it provides “cross-border professionals” with a fast and steady service to help users “go overseas.”

In a Weibo post, the company said it serves the cross-border ecommerce industry. But anyone who can manage to get an invitation code to sign up for the browser can use it. As a result, it’s been gaining traction on social media.

The browser works by having users connect to a “special network.” Kuniao says it doesn’t change a user’s IP address and it’s not advertised as a VPN or proxy, but the mobile app will show you connected to a VPN through one of two servers in Hong Kong.

Chinese users can supposedly visit foreign websites banned in the country. (Picture: Kuniao)

This isn’t an anti-censorship tool, though. Twitter users noted that the browser censors Google search results for sensitive words, including June 4, Falun Gong and Xi Jinping. And a notice to users in the Kuniao iOS app explicitly says “actively browsing content that violates the ‘seven base lines’ and ‘the prohibited nine,’” two principles concerning online censorship, will get users’ accounts banned. The notice also says the company will submit “illegal behaviors” and “browsing records” to relevant authorities.

The program’s newfound popularity has apparently been too much for its servers, as service either doesn’t work or has slowed to a crawl. Some users in a Kuniao WeChat group complained that websites won’t load or are extremely slow, but others said they were able to visit some foreign websites like YouTube.