We've banned this account for flamewar. That's not ok regardless of which side you're flaming for.

See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25986226.

There’s a difference between “not working” and “my device’s authentication token was revoked.” She notes that WhatsApp continues to work.

That's as good a sign as any that you shouldn't be using Whatsapp.

...yes, that is a perfectly normal conclusion to draw.

To spell it out, if whatsapp were considered a threat they'd block it just like they block Signal.

Not necessarily. It could be that whatsapp is popular enough that blocking it would increase the risk to this regime more than not blocking it.