The China Crackdown — How Are Apple’s Apps Stacking Up Against Beijing?

A question on many people’s minds is, “How close are the goals of Apple Apps and Beijing? Likely, just precisely as close as you think they are — which isn’t close. Apple products, including the newly released iPhone 15 series, have always been popular in China. Wall Street Journal said today that Apple will not be able to offer apps to the Chinese population unless the operator is registered with the government. This has been the stand of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. But how does the Chinese population at large respond to these rules? About like they always have.

Will China Be Able to Crackdown on the Apple App Store?

Some say the new ruling will close a loophole in the Great Firewall — but will that loophole actually close? The tech-savvy Chinese don’t seem to like to be told what to do any more than Western society. There are over 1,000 unregistered foreign apps in China, but can the crackdown discover and eliminate those? Sensor Tower, a market insight company, said the five social media apps have been downloaded over 170 million times from the Apple app store.

Tightening rules has always been the agenda of China. Still, it’s increasing as censorship and data security become a high priority, with the National Security Over Economic Interests begin to clamp down on all cross-border information. Some investors are highly concerned about how these apps will be removed and if they can be stamped out.

David Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors and an Apple shareholder, stated today, “China is my biggest worry for Apple.” China demands that, besides registering all apps with the government, Apple needs to crack down on online scams, pornography, and the circulation of information that violates the censorship rules.

A remaining question might be, “What can be done about all those who engage on the platforms when they log on through a virtual private network or VPN?”

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Zhang Kaiyv; Pexels; Thank you!

Deanna Ritchie

Managing Editor at ReadWrite

Deanna is the Managing Editor at ReadWrite. Previously she worked as the Editor in Chief for Startup Grind and has over 20+ years of experience in content management and content development.