https://www.techinasia.com/instagram-accessible-china-service-patchy/
As we all know, China blocks most of the popular western mobile applications for social media purposes, and imitates its own “Chinese versions”. Some examples include: Sina Weibo (Chinese Twitter), Wechat (Chinese WhatsApp), Renren (Chinese Facebook), æ»´æ»´(didi)（Chinese Uber), etc. When I went back to mainland China this summer, I could not access my Instagram, it was available at rare occasions, but most of the time it appeared blank. I needed to download an App named “VPN express” to unblock Instagram every time I want to use it. For the entire month in China, I spent about $3.00 for a 4 GB data, which was somewhat adequate. I have always wondered when the “Chinese version” of Instagram will appear…
Today, I learned there is a new App name: 17, that looks almost entirely like Instagram. My Chinese friends posted screenshots of their accounts on Wechat, trying to get more followers. The difference between 17 and Instagram is that you can ‘like’ someone’s photo as many times as you want, and the amount of likes you receive from others on your photos appears directly on your page. Also, videos are live, which allow your followers to see what you are doing at the moment. Last but not least, you can earn money from likes, so the more likes, the more money you earn. From a brief calculation, about 1 million likes from others will earn you $1.00.
Here is what my 17 account looks like:
