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China to require all mobile apps to share business details with Chinese Communist Party
Wednesday, August 9, 2023 8:45 am

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has announced that all mobile app providers in the country will be required to file business details with the government. This is the latest effort by Beijing to tighten its control over the mobile app industry. This is a significant change for the mobile app industry in authoritarian China.

The new rule, which will take effect in March 2024, requires app providers to provide information such as their company name, address, and contact information. They will also need to state the purpose of their app and the data that they collect from users.

Apps that do not comply with the new rule will be punished, but the MIIT has not yet specified what those punishments will be. Experts say that the new rule could potentially restrict the number of apps available in China and make it more difficult for small developers to get their apps on the market.

Josh Ye for Reuters:

You Yunting, a lawyer with Shanghai-based DeBund Law Offices, said the order is effectively requiring approvals from the ministry.

Rich Bishop, co-founder of app publishing firm AppInChina, said the new rule is also likely to affect foreign-based developers which have been able to publish their apps easily through Apple’s App Store without showing any documentation to the Chinese government.

Bishop said that in order to comply with the new rules, app developers now must either have a company in China or work with a local publisher.

[Apple] pulled over a hundred artificial intelligence (AI) apps from its App Store last week to comply with regulations after China introduced a new licensing regime for generative AI apps for the country.

The ministry’s notice also said entities “engaged in internet information services through apps in such fields as news, publishing, education, film and television and religion should also submit relevant documents.”

The requirement could affect the availability of popular social media apps such as X, Facebook and Instagram. Use of such apps are not allowed in China, but they can be still downloaded from app stores, enabling Chinese to use them when traveling overseas.

MacDailyNews Take: As Potter Stewart said so well, “Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself.”

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https://macdailynews.com/2023/08/09/china-to-require-all-mobile-apps-to-share-business-details-with-chinese-communist-party/