Two RSS reader apps, Reeder and Fiery Feeds, said this week that their iOS apps have been removed from Apple’s China App Store over content that is considered “illegal” in the country.
Same here. Reeder 4 (iOS) was also removed from the Chinese App Store. https://t.co/95aXs4MaEh
— Reeder (@reederapp) September 29, 2020
I received the same message today. Fiery Feeds Is now no longer available on the Chinese App Store as well. https://t.co/3VFQKx2O1R
— Fiery Feeds (@FieryFeeds) September 28, 2020
It looks like Apple is scouring its Chinese App Store for any remaining services that may not sit well with Chinese censors.
Feed readers of RSS, or Real Simple Syndication, are particularly troubling to the authority because they fetch content from third-party websites, allowing users to bypass China’s Great Firewall and reach otherwise forbidden information.
Major political events and regulatory changes can trigger new waves of app removals, but it’s unclear why the two RSS feed readers were pulled this week. Inoreader, a similar service, was banned from Apple’s Chinese App Store back in 2017. Feedly is also unavailable through the local App Store.
“It seems [the ban] comes from the Chinese government, so I do not see any use in appealing to Apple,” said a spokesperson at Fiery Feeds.
MacDailyNews Take: “Forbidden information.”
The bottom line is that the Chinese government is so deathly afraid of its own citizens that they’re (quixotically) trying to keep them from being exposed to new ideas, fearful that one day they’ll think for themselves. Wonder why? (smirk) — MacDailyNews, November 7, 2019
When truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie. ― Yevgeny Yevtushenko
A word to the unwise.
Torch every book.
Char every page.
Burn every word to ash.
Ideas are incombustible.
And therein lies your real fear. — Ellen Hopkins