China has removed 105 apps, including that of US travel firm Tripadvisor, Inc., from app stores in the country, under a new campaign to cleanse stores of apps it deems spread content related to pornography, prostitution, gambling and violence, Reuters reported.
The Cyberspace Administration of China said in a statement on its website on Tuesday that the apps had violated one or more of the three cyber laws, without providing details for each app.
It is not clear yet if any Indian apps or websites are among the 104 banned apps. Between May and December, the Indian government has issued a ban on 220 Chinese apps from Google and Apple app stores.
The authority said it started the campaign on November 5 in response to strong reaction from the general public towards content deemed offensive. It said it would continue to regulate apps and remove those in violation of the law in a timely manner.
China heavily regulates its cyberspace and punishments for transgressions are not uncommon, irrespective of whether the app is operated by a domestic or foreign company.
On 25 November, the Government of India had blocked 43 new Chinese mobile apps in the country, including shopping website AliExpress. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology banned these mobile apps under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
(This is a developing story.)
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