Apple is preparing to remove thousands of other video games from the App Store in China due to pressure from the Chinese government, reports The Wall Street Journal. The company previously warned Chinese video game developers that they receive Game apps were at risk of being removed from the App Store, but the Chinese government now has even greater repression of games that do not have a required license – or any application that it considers illegal.
According to a note obtained by WSJ, the developers have until December 31 to provide Apple proof of the license issued by the government or otherwise the games and other applications will be removed from the App Store. But Rich Bishop, chief executive of ChinaInApp, told the WSJ that very few developers will actually be able to get the license they need from the government to keep their games in App Store.
This regulatory policy, first introduced in 2016, would have been born out of concern addictive gaming and offensive content, but so far many iOS developers have managed to circumvent the mandatory license law due to a loophole in the Apple App Store policies – a loophole that Apple is closing now, judging by this future cleanup. It is not clear what this gap meant.
But IIt’s not just games that Apple has eliminated and will probably continue to eliminate. A mapping application in Hong Kong was removed from the App Store during pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong last fall, after Chinese state media said it was endangering law enforcement officers. Google also removed the same app at about the same time. Plague Inc., a global pandemic-themed simulation game was also eliminated. PUBG was banned in 2019. Even Tripadvisor may not be safe from Chinese censors. The travel app is one of more than 100 apps that China has told Apple to remove for no reason.
In 2019, China’s State Administration for Press and Publication (SAPP) has revealed guidelines for approving applications, which have been banned anything that violates or threatens China’s constitution, national security or political climate; games that promote racism or religious cults; and obscene content with drug use, extreme violence or gambling, reported Business Insider.
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After shareholder pressure his desire to comply with Chinese censors, Apple published a document in September about his commitment to human rights. However, like Financial times pointed out at the time of publication that there is no specific reference to China or what should happen when “China, the world’s largest smartphone market, asks it to ban apps that help users evade censorship and surveillance ”.
But the document says:
Along with the privacy of our users is our commitment to freedom of information and expression. Our products help our customers to communicate, to learn, to express their creativity and to exercise their ingenuity. We believe in the critical importance of an open society in which information flows freely, and we believe that the best way we can continue to promote openness is to remain engaged, even if we may disagree. with the laws of a country.
In 2020 alone, Apple removed 94,000 apps from the China App Store, compared to 25,000 games removed last year, according to Sensor Tower. In July, 2,500 mobile games have been removed before a July 31st the deadline for obtaining a license. It is unclear whether these games were removed by developers or Apple, but Sensor Tower notes that 80% of these applications have had less than 10,000 downloads in China since January. 1, 2012.