Apple Pulls Illegal Apps Targeted by Chinese State Media -- Update
August 20 2018 - 3:25AM
Dow Jones News
By Yoko Kubota
BEIJING--Under fire from Chinese state media, Apple Inc. said it
removed illegal gambling apps from its App Store in China--a move
that could help quell the latest challenge for the American tech
giant in its most important market outside of the U.S.
"Gambling apps are illegal and not allowed on the App Store in
China," Apple said in a statement Monday. "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."
Apple had been criticized by Chinese news outlets for not doing
enough to filter banned content and applications. State broadcaster
CCTV, which last month reported that Apple's app store allowed
illegal gambling apps disguised as official lottery apps, said
Sunday that 25,000 apps have been removed.
Apple offers more than 1.8 million apps in China, according to
the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Apple didn't
confirm the number of apps it took down or when it had removed
them, but 25,000 would amount to about 1.4% of that total.
Apple occasionally cleans up its App Store in the U.S. as well,
removing outdated or spam apps. In China, Apple said it removed
nearly 700 virtual private networks, or VPN, apps from its App
Store last year in response to new local restrictions. VPN is used
by individuals and companies to send secure emails, transmit data
and access websites blocked in China.
The state media attacks came at a vulnerable time for Apple,
which like other U.S. companies operating in China, is caught in
the middle amid growing trade friction between Washington D.C. and
Beijing.
U.S. companies are paying close attention to the messages they
get from the Chinese government and the state media in this
sensitive trade environment, said Ben Cavender, a director at China
Market Research Group who focuses on consumer technology and
retail.
"They are going to move very quickly to try to rectify that
problem, because this is a situation where there could be a lot
more backlash in the government in terms of regulations," Mr.
Cavender said.
In its latest report on the app housecleaning, CCTV also said
that illegal apps that were banned from the App Store would still
be working on devices of users who had downloaded them. It also
said that fake positive reviews for the illegal apps have misled
some users.
"Apple itself has set up the rules on how to allow apps onto its
store, but it didn't follow that, resulting in the proliferation of
bogus lottery apps and gambling apps," it said in its report.
Apple's strong ties to China leaves it exposed should trade
tensions ratchet up. China accounts for about one-fifth of its
revenue. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company also assembles its
iPhones in China, which means the iPhones are a Chinese export that
could potentially be subject to tariffs in the trade row.
Trade experts say China could hurt U.S. companies either through
tariffs or other measures, including media-led campaigns against
U.S. goods.
Despite concerns, currently American branded goods including
Apple's iPhones continue to be popular in China, with Apple's
retail stores and many other U.S.-brand stores attracting customers
as usual.
The state media criticism against Apple also comes at a time
when the Chinese government tightens control over the internet
environment, as regulators strive to block news and entertainment
content at odds with Communist Party values.
Last month, multiple media including state-controlled news
agency Xinhua published criticism of Apple for not doing enough to
filter banned content on its iMessage service.
Apple has pointed to tools on iMessage that can help users
filter or block spam. Messages sent through the iMessage service
are encrypted, which means only the sender and the receiver can
access it. The company says it can't decrypt those messages and
doesn't log any messaging content.
Analysts have said that since Apple's operating system doesn't
allow encrypted messages to be read, its spam filters aren't as
effective as Google's Android platform, which allows users to grant
access to third parties to read their messages for better spam
filtering.
Yang Jie
contributed to this article.
Write to Yoko Kubota at yoko.kubota@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 20, 2018 04:10 ET (08:10 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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