Apple restricts 'News App' in Chinese Mainland

In a move that seems to be driven by the stringent rules in China, Apple has disabled its news app in the country, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation, the New York Times reported.

While using the Apple News feed on iOS devices, users in China are seeing the error message, “Can’t refresh right now. News isn’t supported in your current region”, rather than the list of selected articles based on their preference.

Larry Salibra, founder of Pay4Bugs, reported the issue last week on Twitter. In a written interview, Mr. Salibra said he found what Apple was doing “very disconcerting.”

In a post on Reddit, Mr. Salibra wrote, “They’re censoring news content that I downloaded and stored on my device purchased in the USA, before I even enter China just because my phone happens to connect to a Chinese signal floating over the border.”

Customers who already downloaded the app by registering their phones in the United States can still see content in it when they travel overseas, but they have found that it does not work in China, the NY Times said.

Media censorship in China is not something new. The Council on Foreign Relations said in a post that the Chinese government has for long kept tight reins on both traditional and new media to avoid potential subversion of its authority. Its tactics often entail strict media controls using monitoring systems and firewalls, shuttering publications or websites, and jailing dissident journalists, bloggers, and activists. 

“China's constitution affords its citizens freedom of speech and press, but the opacity of Chinese media regulations allows authorities to crack down on news stories by claiming that they expose state secrets and endanger the country. The definition of state secrets in China remains vague, facilitating censorship of any information that authorities deem harmful to their political or economic interests”, it said.

For Apple this would imply developing a censorship system, a combination of automated software and employees, which most Chinese companies use to do away with sensitive articles from feeds. The iPhone maker seems to be avoiding the problem by completely blocking the service for users in China.