Nancy Pelosi knocks out China’s Weibo as millions track Taiwan trip

Pelosi (left) and Taiwanese President President Tsai Ing-wen wave during a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, on Aug 3, 2022. Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan briefly crashed Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, as millions in the country discussed and debated her Asia trip. — Taiwan Presidential Office via AP

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan briefly crashed Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, as millions in the country discussed and debated her Asia trip.

The microblogging platform apologised for a half-hour outage of its mobile app in the period immediately before Pelosi’s landing at 10.40pm on Aug 2, when countless messages tracking her plane flooded social media.