Apple makes it mandatory for app developers in China to comply with new online law
Following China’s recent updating of an existing online software regulation to lay out strict criteria for app stores and apps in the country, Apple has apparently started complying with it. Apple has made it mandatory for app developers hoping to publish apps on its App Store in China to provide their Internet Content Provider filing number from the Chinese government.
Last month, China announced that Apple would require an ICP license in order for apps to be listed in all mobile app stores. Now, with Apple honouring the regulation, it closes a loophole that had let iPhone users in China download and, with a VPN, use apps that the government there has blocked for most or all of the country, like WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube.
In order for an app to qualify for an ICP license, they are “effectively” required to host their back end in China. That means foreign apps have to have a local component to be available for download in China.
Apple was pushing back on the requirement. However, app stores from Tencent, Huawei, and others had apparently already complied with the rule.
Before this new requirement, Apple also had to remove tens of thousands of games from its App Store in the country over similar licensing requirements.
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