The country listed the marketplaces that comply with its new regulations, but Apple’s wasn’t on it.
China’s internet and online ecosystem regulator recently released a list of the names of the various mobile app store marketplaces that are compliant with its regulations, and Apple’s marketplace wasn’t on the list.
The list comes as a strong signal that the regulator has started enforcing new rules it previously announced.
The regulator had already announced that it had a number of new regulations for mobile application marketplaces, including the need to file business details. Now, it appears to have started to enforce those new rules.
There was a total of 26 marketplaces that made it on the list. The Apple App Store wasn’t one of them. That said, those run by companies such as Huawei, Baidu, Tencent, Ant Group, Xiaomi and Samsung all submitted their filings to the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) the official regulator.
Beijing has been broadening its smartphone and mobile application usage oversight across the last few years. It’s now required in China that all application marketplaces submit their business details to the Chinese government. The regulations are leading to turmoil within the industry. This means that it will be challenging for many developers who had previously relied on downloads and sales within the second largest economy in the world. It could be that many apps will be taken down.
The tighter scrutiny over app store marketplaces in China started last year in June.
It was last June that the CAC released its new regulation that demanded that marketplaces send the government their business details. Moreover, it stated that if apps contain illegal content, the marketplaces would also be held accountable.
Another notice was published in August 2023 by the Ministry of Industry and Informational Technology. It provided a deadline for marketplaces to file their details by the end of March.
Reuters reported earlier in October that app store marketplaces operated by Huawei, Tencent and others have started requiring that their applications be compliant with the new Chinese regulations. Apple has yet to announce how its own marketplace will operate in China and how it will comply with the Chinese regulations, assuming it intends to.
