Josh Weiner
Apple’s local time on Wednesday (3rd) released a transparency report for the second half of 2018, revealing that at the request of the Chinese government, 517 applications were removed from App Store China in the second half of 2018, and requests for personal device information were also requested. In the past, it has increased dramatically, and even requires the provision of account information including stored photos, emails, and the like.
According to the Voice of America report, in the second half of 2018, the Chinese government filed a total of 56 requests for Apple to remove applications, involving 626 applications, of which 517 were deleted. According to the report, in comparison, Apple’s total number of applications requested by the government in the rest of the world is only 117. “Apple said that the vast majority of applications deleted in China are related to illegal gambling or pornography.”
The report also mentioned that the Chinese government’s request for Apple to provide personal device information has increased significantly, involving who owns the equipment and what to buy with them. In the second half of 2018, the Chinese government requested data on 137,000 Apple devices, up from about 30,000 in the previous half year, and the number is seven times that of the US, and far more than half of the global total. Apple explained that the Chinese government’s reason is “mainly due to tax fraud investigations by tax authorities.”
It is worth mentioning that the report disclosed that the Chinese government asked Apple to provide 7,154 account information in the second half of 2018, including name and address, and in some cases, stored photos, emails, iOS device backups, contacts. People or calendars, the reason is “financial fraud investigation. But Apple emphasizes that it will only provide non-content data to the Chinese government.
