Authorities have requested Apple to remove the New York Times app in China. It was reported that the said move was to prevent Chinese readers in accessing independent news coverage.
Apple has been informed that they were violating rules against Chinese regulations but shared that China failed to say what rules they had broken.
"For some time now the New York Times app has not been permitted to display content to most users in China and we have been informed that the app is in violation of local regulations," Fred Sainz, an Apple spokesman, said of the Times apps. "As a result, the app must be taken down off the China App Store. When this situation changes, the App Store will once again offer the New York Times app for download in China."
New York Times, at the same time, removed both English and Chinese language apps from the App Store in China in December 23. However, New York Times reportedly asked Apple to reconsider the decision.
"The request by the Chinese authorities to remove our apps is part of their wider attempt to prevent readers in China from accessing independent news coverage by The New York Times of that country, coverage which is no different from the journalism we do about every other country in the world," the paper's spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said.
The New York Times app remained to be available for downloading in Apple's App stores for other countries like Hong Kong and Taiwan, however if a user's billing address is in mainland China, they cannot download it.
Aside from the New York Times app, a number of Western websites like YouTube, Google and Facebook have been blocked in China since the implementation of the great wall cybersecurity.
