Chinese authorities have blocked domestic access to the audio-only social media app Clubhouse after it attracted untold numbers of Chinese people to uncensored, cross-border discussions on political and human rights subjects.
The invitation-only US app, which only works on iPhones and was released in April 2020, allows users to listen in to discussions and interviews in quasi conference-call style online rooms. It suddenly became popular last week – particularly in China, where people seized the opportunity to discuss taboo topics including Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the persecution of Uighurs.
On Monday evening Chinese users reported the platform was no longer available, ending a short-lived period of free political expression in a country where the government goes to extraordinary lengths to suppress it.
The Church of England has defended one of its clergymen after he posted a scathing tweet about iconic British veteran Captain Tom Moore a day after his death, condemning the “racist and homophobic” abuse he received.
Football fans have blasted a historian’s woke op-ed which claims that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ name is problematic for ‘romanticizing’ cutthroat pirates.
A federal public servant who was caught up in the international travel controversy that swept through Canadian politics following Christmas has given up her career with the government to pursue her career as a social media “influencer,” saying that after she resigned, it felt like “a thousand pounds have been lifted off 
