State-sponsored Chinese media rebuked Apple for the availability of these apps
Cyber security organization specialists reported that Apple has banned thousands of gambling apps from its Chinese App Store, following the criticism of state-controlled media about the inaction of the iPhone manufacturer on the presence of such developments that are illegal in Chinese territory.
“Gambling apps are illegal and are not allowed in the China App Store”, says an Apple press release. “We have already banned many apps and developers which are trying to distribute illegal apps in our App Store, and we will continue our efforts to find them and prevent them from being in the App Store”.
While the US manufacturer did not confirm how many apps were eliminated, cyber security organization specialists estimate that the figure is close to the 25K banned apps.
The purge occurs after a series of reports from Chinese state media, including the Xinhua news agency and the CCTV Network, in which Apple is criticized for not doing enough to remove apps and content in iMessage that promoted prohibited products in the local market, such as pornography, imitation products and gambling.
According to cyber security organization experts from the International Institute of Cyber Security, last year Apple banned virtual private network (VPN) apps from its China App Store to meet local regulations that require developers who offer such apps first obtain a government license.
According to the figures of 2017 of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, there were 1.710 million apps in the App Store of China, while the app stores operated by Chinese suppliers offered about 2.32 million apps. Google’s Play Store is banned in the country.
App Annie, a signature specializing in application figures, estimated that China counted 39.9 billion downloads in the Apple App Store, after 40.1 billion downloads generated in US territory, generating revenues by 27.7 billion dollars. The Asia-Pacific region contributed almost 60% of total consumer spending on App Store and 49% of worldwide downloads.
Relationship between China and the EU has been shot by the commercial administration of Donald Trump, which imposed tariffs on Chinese goods valued at 34 billion dollars. Another 200 billion dollars in tariffs could follow in response to China’s retaliation.
Working as a cyber security solutions architect, Alisa focuses on application and network security. Before joining us she held a cyber security researcher positions within a variety of cyber security start-ups. She also experience in different industry domains like finance, healthcare and consumer products.
