It has been out in the Chinese market for three months already.

For any social media-savvy individual, going to China can be a bit of a torture, with its strict censorship of social media platforms. Want to access Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and other social media apps? Unless you get access to a VPN, it’s practically impossible to do that in China. Even Google search is banned in the country as well. In spite of the so-called “great firewall of China“, top tech companies from the West find ways to bypass China’s strict internet laws–even secretly launching new apps exclusive to China.

That has been the case with Facebook, which stealthily launched Colorful Balloons, back in May. Launched by Youge Internet Technology, a local tech company, there were no hints of the app being launched by Facebook, save for the app’s similarities to Facebook’s Moments, a photo sharing app where users create photo albums and share it with their friends.

Left: Colorful Balloons; Right: Moments

Banned since 2009, Facebook is doing all possible means to offer its services to a market that boasts of 700 million internet users spending $750 billion in online purchases a year. While Facebook does not confirm or deny its involvement with Colorful Balloons, Mark Zuckerberg has paid several visits to China–even learning to speak Mandarin.

Could this be Facebook’s first step towards entering China once again? Let us know your sentiments in the comments section below!

Source: New York Times