Uzbekistan unblocks Twitter, WeChat

TASHKENT: Uzbekistan’s authoritarian government said on Monday that Twitter, WeChat and popular Russian social network Vkontakte were all unblocked in the Central Asian country.

It added talks with China’s TikTok were still ongoing. The country of around 35 million people has for over a year blocked access to the tech giants, citing their alleged violation of a local law that personal data of domestic users should be stored in Uzbekistan.

The state communications agency said in a statement published on social media that access to Twitter, WeChat and Vkontakte (now called VK) had been "fully resumed" as of Monday, adding that "blocking only harms development".