Apple’s App Store has been included in a list of websites and app stores that have been investigated for providing pornographic content in China. The list, published by state-owned newspaper People’s Daily, comes just a month after a government regulator named the App Store as a source of “obscene pornography,” despite Apple’s strict policy against pornographic apps.
The list is mostly made up of obscure websites, The Wall Street Journal reports. But Apple’s App Store appears next to the names of other app stores, sparking concern among Chinese Internet users that this may be the beginning of another government campaign against Apple.
Apple has been scrutinized by the Chinese government over pornographic content before, and it’s not the only major company to come under fire for this. Back in 2009, Chine Central Television accused Google of spreading pornography, leading to hacks that cause Google to move its operations to Hong Kong the following year.
The Chinese government’s main concern is politically sensitive content, but it has long been fighting to prevent pornography from being accessible on the Chinese Internet.
“To accomplish this quixotic task, it has launched repeated campaigns to block illicit material online, shuttered hundreds of websites and blog accounts, and even called Internet executives into industry-wide meetings to call for greater vigilance,” WSJ reports.
Following another campaign against pornography back in March, a government regulator in China called the App Store a source of “obscene pornography” and ordered such content to be removed. Apple has also come under fire for its warranty practices there, which caused Tim Cook to write a letter of apology.
But it is the recent article from the People’s Daily that has led many to believe the Chinese government wants to push Apple out of China, its second-largest market.
Source: People’s Daily
