It appears Apple s news app isn t working in China, so here s a question: Is Apple censoring news in China — or avoiding censoring news in China?
The New York Times reported over the weekend that the iPhone maker s new News app — which is available for U.S. users and is being tested in a couple of other countries but not China — is deactivated in that nation, even for those whose iPhones are registered in the United States.
The NYT mentions one user based in Hong Kong who traveled to mainland China and saw the following error message on his iPhone: Can t refresh right now. News isn t supported in your current region. The user, business owner Larry Salibra, blogged that according to his testing, Apple s news app stopped working when he was connected to a mobile network on the mainland but became functional again when he was connected to a Hong Kong network. He told the NYT he finds what Apple is doing to be disconcerting.
Apple would not comment to the NYT.
Another Apple user, who s based in Beijing, told Quartz that even though she has full access to the U.S. App Store and iBooks, she was unable to download Apple News.
China, of course, is a key market for Apple and many other companies. In recent months, Apple s shares have fallen on concerns about the Chinese economy — prompting CEO Tim Cook to take the unusual step of trying to reassure the world that all s well for the company in China, which he said represents an unprecedented opportunity in the long term. Cook was among the tech leaders who went to Washington when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited, reportedly sitting right next to the president during the state dinner. When Apple rolled out the newest models of its iPhone last month, the company reported what it said were record sales, boosted in part by sales in China.
Censoring news/avoiding censoring news isn t the only delicate subject for Apple in China. Tech and other foreign companies are under pressure from the Chinese government, which wants access to user information on its soil, to turn over encryption keys and source codes. Early this year, Apple was accused of already having a special deal that allowed the Chinese government to conduct security checks on its products, Quartz reported. In response to that report, the company pointed out that Cook has spoken passionately about Apple s commitment to its customers privacy.
Photo: An Apple store in Hefei, China, in September 2014. (AFP/Getty Images)
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