INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Apple is cracking down on illegal content in China after it removed potentially thousands of apps related to gambling.
The Wall Street
Journal reported that the United States phone-maker purged as many as 25,000 apps — that a figure that was first cited by state-owned
broadcaster CCTV [link in Chinese]
Apple didn''t comment on the number of apps removed, but it did confirm that it took action.
Gambling apps are illegal and not allowed on
We have already removed many apps and developers for trying to distribute illegal gambling apps on our App Store, and we are vigilant in our
efforts to find these and stop them from being on the App Store,& a spokesperson told TechCrunch.
Apple offers over 1.5 million apps in
Greater China — which includes China, Hong Kong and Taiwan — is Apple third largest region based on business, grossing $9.6 billion in
That around 18 percent of its total revenue.
The removals come weeks after a number of state-media reportedcriticism of Apple for failing to
prevent issues such a spam, gambling, pornography and more concerning its business in Asia.
That criticism has been linked to the ongoing
trade war between China and the United States — a spat that cost Qualcomm its $44 billion acquisition of NXP — but that may be wide of
Apple is not alone in being rebuked by Beijing for content deemed unsuitable, a number of China up-and-coming startups have also had their
wings clipped.
Earlier this year, ambitious new media firm ByteDance — which operates news and video apps andis currentlytalking to
investors to raise $2.5-$3.5 billion —was ordered to shutter a parody app it operated in China
Additionally,four news and content apps were suspended from the App Store and Google Play for offending authorities
ByteDance responded by doubling its content moderation team and developing stronger systems for checking content.
Content had appeared that
did not accord with core socialist values and was not a good guide for public opinion
Over the past few years, we put more effort and resources toward expanding the business, and did not take enough measures to supervise our
platform,& founder and CEOZhang Yiming said in a statement that seemed designed to appease internet regulators.
Apple has, of course, taken
criticism for kowtowing to Beijing by removing more than 50 VPN apps, which can be used to circumvent China internet censorship system, from
CEO Tim Cook has expressed his belief that the apps — and others removed by Apple in order to comply with Chinese law — will return, but
it is difficult to envisage a scenario in which that happens.
