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Apple has reportedly met Chinese authorities recently to discuss its concerns about the country’s new app publisher and developer regulations. However, the meeting didn’t produce any positive outcomes for Apple as it still has to comply with rules, pushing it to remove certain apps from its App Store China soon.
The new law gives the Chinese government more control over the tech sector by requiring developers to file business details with the government in hopes of discouraging online fraud, pornography, and other content against the country’s regulations. This will push the developers to be a part of a local company in China or work with one. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which formed a task force to enforce the new law, said that apps that fail to observe the new rules will face consequences once the grace period ends in July 2024 (formerly March).
Earlier this month, platforms like Tencent, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo started the steps to comply with the regulations. Apple, however, remained unresponsive to the push and is not even included in the first batch of mobile app store list the Cyberspace Administration of China recently released.
This has started speculation of Apple’s resistance against the law, but a report from the Wall Street Journal has revealed that the giant has been talking with the Chinese government about this to voice its concerns. Unfortunately, the country’s officials reportedly told the company that it has to implement the regulations to its platform.
The law will impact apps currently banned in China, like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp. And given that they are all unlikely to comply with China’s policies, which push them to comply with its data transfer and censorship rules, Apple will certainly have to stop offering them on App Store China soon, or it will have to face legal sanctions.
