𝐈𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 '𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝' 𝐯𝐩𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐕𝐏𝐒 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡.
As of 31 March, only government-approved VPN services may be used in China. However, it is unclear what the consequences would be if consumers and companies were to use services that could not withstand the approval of the Chinese authorities. A number of Chinese companies, for example, have told Reuters, a press agency, that it is still unclear what penalties are imposed on the use of unauthorised vpn services.
According to the companies surveyed, the Chinese government has not issued any guidelines on the use of Vpn services. This makes it unclear whether the use of non-approved VPN services will be addressed immediately and, if so, how. The companies surveyed by Reuters do not immediately expect a strict approach.
China started to take the first steps towards banning vpn. at the beginning of last year. This was first and foremost about tackling providers of vpn. services. Some time ago, for example, a Chinese national was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for offering such a service. The authorities are dealing with the use of vpn because it allows the Chinese 'firewall' to be circumvented, thereby deceiving the country's Internet censorship.
The ban has begun... but nothing has really changed. You can still use VPNs in China.. I think the government will always tolerate the use of VPN apps so long as they are difficult to obtain for the average person. Alternatively, if the government starts rolling out its own licensed VPN apps at scale, then commercial VPN apps might become fully blocked in China. Until then nothing will change.