NYT: Apple blocks access to iOS 9 News app in China

Apple is blocking Chinese access to iOS 9’s News app in China due to the government’s policy of insisting that companies are responsible for censoring sensitive content, notes The New York Times, quoting an unnamed “person with direct knowledge of the situation.”

The News app is available only to users in the U.S., though it is being tested in Britain and Australia. Customers who already downloaded the app by registering their phones in the United States can still see content in it when they travel overseas — but have found that it doesn’t work in China, notes The NYT.

The article notes that those in China who look at the top of the News feed, which would normally display a list of selected articles based on a user’s preferred media, instead see an error message: “Can’t refresh right now. News isn’t supported in your current region.”