Tech giant, Apple Inc. just removed the New York Times app from the Chinese App store, on orders from the Chinese government.
The NY-Times, with content in both Chinese and English is one of the larger media outlets whose content is actively blocked by the Chinese government, however software tools can be used and are by many to view the content within the country.
According to The Times, the app had been pulled out from the App store for China on 23rd December, under the guise of the regulation passed last June that prevents mobile apps from engaging in activities that endanger national security or disrupt social order.
The move has been questioned as the not so sublime agenda behind it surfaced on the same day when a NY Times reporter, David Barboza; reached out to Apple for commenting on a story about billions of dollars - in hidden perks and subsidies - provided to the worlds largest iPhone factory operated by Apples partner Foxconn by the Chinese government. A story, which went online on December 29.
An anti-censorship group Greatfire.org in cooperation with the New York Times launched its own version of the Chinese-language app in July to thwart the Chinese censorship in ways the government would in all likelihood not be able to easily prevent.
It was to prove that its Chinese-language ANDROID app continued to work unhindered by the government sanctions whilst its the companys own another app had too earlier been removed from the App store in China. Ergo, Greatfire.org took to tweeting that the censorship was indeed pertinent to the Times piece about the Foxconn subsidies, giving further fuel to the fire.
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