China is currently facing a lot of trouble worldwide including the recent digital airstrike of India on the country and is now pressurizing Apple. After the TikTok ban from India, the US also started to ban the popular social media sharing app. This in turn led to digital warfare between the countries. The Chinese trade society firmly believes in the policy of “only export, no import”. However, Apple was somehow able to keep a lot of its apps in the Chinese app store, until today.
The Chinese government has announced that any and all applications which do not have a legit license number or ISBN will face removal from the Chinese app store. China is very strict in terms of these policies and it has taken actions according to the same.
China took down almost 8000 Apple products from App store
The news emerges from Niko Partners’ Daniel Ahmad, who shared an email issued to developers with premium games or free-to-play titles that feature in-app purchases.
We notified clients of this upcoming change back in February 2020. As per a 2016 regulation 'Notice Regarding the Administration of Mobile Game Publication Services', all paid games or games with IAP operating in China must be approved by the gaming regulator (NPPA).
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) July 8, 2020
The email states that requires all such games to have a valid publishing license number, or ISBN, from the nation’s National Press and Publication Administration, which is the government body that regulates game releases.
Android stores have been enforcing this since 2016, but loopholes have allows developers to launch on iOS in China without a valid ISBN. Recently an Android malware by the name of TikTok Pro started to spread bugs in mobile devices.
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The official notification shows that, as of June 2020, 50 of the top 100 most downloaded apps on the Chinese App Store were unlicensed. However, 97 of the top 100 grossing games did have a legal ISBN. Let us know what you have to say about this in the comments section below! Also, don’t forget to join us on our Telegram Channel for more such latest updates and discussions.
Suryapratim Ray is an engineer, author, robotics hobbyist, and an active Quoran. Being a technical blogger, he covers the good, bad, and ugly of science on a regular basis at Sciencenews18. In addition to his passion for writing, he’s equally keen on learning classical music.