China porn app investigation targets Apple, others
Apple is the target of some salacious accusations in the Chinese media again, with an alleged pornography investigation making some observers wonder if this is the new normal for Apple in the world's biggest smartphone market.
The Chinese government regularly attempts to censor pornographic content on the web and recently launched a new campaign to stamp out such content in China. This most recent campaign included one government regulator naming Apple's iOS App Store as a source of "obscene pornographic content," according to The Wall Street Journal.
The accusation came with an order for Apple to remove the offensive content from its App Store and to submit a report on the violation. It also called for Apple to implement measures to prevent future violations.
The regulator leveled that accusation in March, and Communist Party mouthpiece The People's Daily followed up on Wednesday, placing Apple in a list of websites and app stores under investigation for providing pornographic content. Despite Apple's size and bumpy recent history in China, the piece doesn't emphasize Apple more than other companies named.
"This is another very heavy stick to remind content sellers who the boss is," one analyst told Bloomberg. "Apple really has to work hard on government relations."
Apple is notoriously vigilant in keeping pornographic material out of its App Store as best it can, to the point that some app makers self-censor in anticipation of content being removed from the App Store due to Apple's standards. The company has, though, had run-ins with the Chinese government over pornographic content in the past.
Some analysts are looking at the new dust-up as a possible sign that Apple has been targeted by the Chinese government, much in the way search giant Google ran into problems in the country. China Central Television accused Google of spreading pornography in 2009, and shortly thereafter Google began experiencing heavier hacking attacks. The company eventually moved its operations to Hong Kong in 2010.
The past months have seen Apple's position in China becoming increasingly complex. Apple recognizes the importance of the Chinese market in terms of mobile computing, and the company is continually positioning its products to be effective in China.
The iPhone maker became the target of what appeared to be a coordinated media attack last month, leading to a rare apology from Apple CEO Tim Cook over alleged warranty issues in the country. Shortly following Cook's apology, China's media began celebrating Apple again.
The Chinese government regularly attempts to censor pornographic content on the web and recently launched a new campaign to stamp out such content in China. This most recent campaign included one government regulator naming Apple's iOS App Store as a source of "obscene pornographic content," according to The Wall Street Journal.
The accusation came with an order for Apple to remove the offensive content from its App Store and to submit a report on the violation. It also called for Apple to implement measures to prevent future violations.
The regulator leveled that accusation in March, and Communist Party mouthpiece The People's Daily followed up on Wednesday, placing Apple in a list of websites and app stores under investigation for providing pornographic content. Despite Apple's size and bumpy recent history in China, the piece doesn't emphasize Apple more than other companies named.
"This is another very heavy stick to remind content sellers who the boss is," one analyst told Bloomberg. "Apple really has to work hard on government relations."
Apple is notoriously vigilant in keeping pornographic material out of its App Store as best it can, to the point that some app makers self-censor in anticipation of content being removed from the App Store due to Apple's standards. The company has, though, had run-ins with the Chinese government over pornographic content in the past.
Some analysts are looking at the new dust-up as a possible sign that Apple has been targeted by the Chinese government, much in the way search giant Google ran into problems in the country. China Central Television accused Google of spreading pornography in 2009, and shortly thereafter Google began experiencing heavier hacking attacks. The company eventually moved its operations to Hong Kong in 2010.
The past months have seen Apple's position in China becoming increasingly complex. Apple recognizes the importance of the Chinese market in terms of mobile computing, and the company is continually positioning its products to be effective in China.
The iPhone maker became the target of what appeared to be a coordinated media attack last month, leading to a rare apology from Apple CEO Tim Cook over alleged warranty issues in the country. Shortly following Cook's apology, China's media began celebrating Apple again.
Comments
I am so glad I dont live in China.
Apple's iOS App Store as a source of "obscene pornographic content"
And people get mad at me when I say, "Screw the Chinese"… How can you support this idiocy?
With China's gov't, it's basically One Billion People Screwed...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
And people get mad at me when I say, "Screw the Chinese"… How can you support this idiocy?
It does look like the kind of place you can get arrested and put in jail for absolutly no reason.
I went to Cuba one. To my suprise you need to go throught custom's to get OUT of the country. If I cross the border from Canada to the US the canadian customs is not going to stop me and make sure I can get out... Imo dont go to a country that checks people on there way out...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
And people get mad at me when I say, "Screw the Chinese"… How can you support this idiocy?
The Communist Party of China absolutely agrees with you. Screw the people and steal all the technology/wealth in the world. It's about their family over yours... any way they (government officials) can. That simple.
If the Chinese don't like porn then how did their population get to 1.4 billion?
By just smiling hard at each other?
So in the Chinese App Store you can download porn Apps, where as in the rest of the world we can't.
We should definitely sue Apple for chinese favoritism!
I am applesupertramp, and I am Steve
Or is it Apple's profits that are so "offensive" to the greedy chinese government?
I guess every major government has it's corrupt officials you have to bribe - and if you don't you get too much "attention".
that's how many things in China works. I have seen it first hand.
So how did people reproduce before there was porn?
Quote:
Originally Posted by jd_in_sb
Weird that China did not mention the name of any apps that have porn. Probably because they couldn't find any.
I found one. It's really shocking.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wheres-my-water/id449735650?mt=8
And you can see......totally nude in the shower.
The absence of porn likely forced them to have sex with real people, like in the old days. There is actually porn in Asia but they do a really weird thing in that they add those pixellated filters over the parts.
http://www.japanprobe.com/2006/01/31/why-is-japanese-porn-censored/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9388560/Michelangelo-becomes-latest-victim-of-Chinese-censorship.html
It's watchable but it does sort of defeat the whole point of it. I can't imagine them finding many apps in the App Store that would be obscene but anything with full nudity would count for them, possibly erotic books.
Chinese govt is playing hardball. Clearly Apple needs China more than China needs Apple which doesnt bode well for future business in China particularly China Mobile. I think Apple needs to sit down and figure out what the price of doing business in China is. Of course, much like any good black mailer, I doubt the Chinese govt will be easy to buy off.
Define porn. Part of the issue may be how they define it. For all we know a comic with a woman with large bulbous breasts, even fully covered, is pornographic.
China may be shooting itself in some ways. Japan just found a huge cache of the same rare Earth metals that China was using to force chip etc production to stay in China by making it illegal to export the metals. Having another source opens of suppliers to possibly move production out of China. Foxconn has plants in South America and according to rumor soon in the US. Obama is pushing for more STEM education projects to reverse that whole 'there are people for the jobs' that Steve said was part of why they get outsourced in the first place.
All of this could be in part a move, not just by Apple but all companies, to get out of China to a heavy degree. Imagine if Apple was in a position to move everything out of China including their stores. And then sue the government for not stopping smugglers and copycats. I don't think Apple would pull out but if they were in the position to do so it might be better for them. They might even be able to use that leverage in these suits since the last thing they want to do is have to write a special version of iOS with no safari, no iTunes content stores etc but that's basically what China wants.
Perhaps Huawei is about to lose one or more major international telecomms contracts on the grounds of its excessively close connections to the government of China.
Cheers
So is Apple going to bend over again and apologize to those communists, every time that the crooks come with vague and ridiculous accusations?
Apple should just tell those evil losers and terrible liars to get lost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
The accusation came with an order for Apple to remove the offensive content from its App Store and to submit a report on the violation. It also called for Apple to implement measures to prevent future violations.
The websites involved were told to delete the content, then engage in self-examination, self-correction and better site management.
Quote:
Despite Apple's size and bumpy recent history in China, the piece doesn't emphasize Apple more than other companies named.
Yeah, there were a lot of sites mentioned.
They also listed a pro-Android website, and even university eBook exchanges.
I wonder if any of the violations had to do with apps like Manga readers.