CRITICALPlatform Action2021-07-27 · China / Global
Apple Removes Thousands of Apps from China App Store Under Government Pressure
Apple removed more than 1,000 apps from its Chinese App Store between 2017 and 2021 following demands from Chinese regulators, including VPN apps, news applications, and apps supporting Taiwanese and Tibetan content. A 2021 investigation by the New York Times found Apple had removed apps at a rate far higher than publicly disclosed and had stored Chinese user data on servers controlled by a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Critics argued Apple's compliance with Chinese censorship demands — which removed tools enabling free expression for hundreds of millions of users — demonstrated how corporate platform governance can become a vector for state censorship at global scale.
Tags
applechinaapp-storeVPN-removalcensorshipcorporate-compliancesurveillance
Sources
→ https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-censorship-data.html→ https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/05/apple-china-surveillance→ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/05/apple-china-data-privacy/→ https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/04/02/how-dare-they-peep-my-private-life/chinas-surveillance-state-runs-roughshod-over← Back to IncidentsAll data from public records