China Blocks Flipboard Access (Updated)
May 16, 2011
The Chinese government has blocked the news-generating app Flipboard, effective immediately. Flipboard’s CEO, Mike McCue, made the announcement via his Twitter feed.
Flipboard relies on Amazon servers to gather news for its customers. The Chinese government has blocked access to these, rather than to the app itself. In fact, the app remains in the Chinese App Store. However, because of China's block, the app is basically worthless.
According to Macstories, services such as Google Reader, Instagram, and Flickr are now blocked from Flipboard users in China. Facebook and Twitter, which have been blocked by the Chinese government for some time, did work on Flipboard via a VPN. However, by blocking Amazon’s servers, China has made those two sites also inaccessible using Flipboard.
Launched in 2010, Flipboard offers readers news from a number of different sources. Recent additions include OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network and The Guardian.
Updated:
In a Twitter response to AppAdvice, McCue indicated that there was nothing further to add to this situation, only to say Flipboard would be looking more into it this week.