For several months, the App Store has been removing a large number of applications and games available in China, at the request of the country’s government. According to the latest Wall Street Journal article on the subject, the purge of apps and games it does not only affect apps from Chinese developers, but also other foreign companies, such as Tripadvisor.
Throughout this month of December, Apple sent various communications to Chinese developers, warning them that a new wave of apps and games may disappear from the App Store, continuing the country’s government oversight process that began last summer.
As can be read in the statement Apple sent to developers, those who offer certain types of apps with in-app purchases, including games, have until December 31 to present the license offered by the Chinese government
For several years now, the Chinese government has required all video games to be licensed, which is in effect a license. state approval. Although this law was passed several years ago, it was not until the middle of this year that the government got down to work to enforce it.
But, in addition, the country’s government also asked Apple to delete more than 100 apps which until now were available in China, like Tripadvisor, without any justification. This medium declares that:
The App Store purge comes as China has stepped up efforts to control its internet, tightening content controls and censorship, including a demand that Tripadvisor and more than 100 other apps be removed from the App Store. Apple at home. The Chinese Cyberspace Administration has called the apps illegal without explaining the offenses committed by Tripadvisor or the other apps, most of which come from Chinese developers. Tripadvisor declined to comment.
According to the latest Sensor Tower data, before the start of the purge, the Chinese App Store had 272,000 games, including more than 94,000 disappeared in just 6 months, a truly impressive figure compared to the number of games it removed from the Chinese App Store in 2019: 25,000.
