'Privacy-safe' search engine DuckDuckGo latest internet service to get blocked in China
Authorities appear to have blocked US-based search engine DuckDuckGo, which has enjoyed rising popularity over its privacy-oriented searches and iOS integration.
Chinese authorities appear to have blocked the US-based internet search engine DuckDuckGo, which has enjoyed rising popularity over its privacy-oriented searches and iOS integration.
"We saw the online mentions that DuckDuckGo was blocked. We aren't sure why. It has happened before and we were unblocked later," said DuckDuckGo founder and CEO Gabriel Weinberg.
The move adds the search engine to an increasingly long list of online services inaccessible in China in recent months.
In addition to long-blocked Facebook and Twitter, almost all of Google's online services have been blocked since June. Japanese messaging service Line and South Korea's Kakao Talk are also inaccessible.
Weinberg said the Paoli, Pennsylvania-based company had not been contacted by Chinese authorities and that no issues on its side caused the outage.
GreatFire.org, a website monitoring Internet censorship in China, suggested that DuckDuckGo had been blocked starting September 4.