Amazon's audiobook service Audible and web apps for reading the holy books of Islam and Christianity have disappeared in mainland China from Apple Store in the latest examples of strict rules for web firms.
Audible said in a statement Friday that it removed its app from the Apple store on mainland China last month because of permit requirements. The makers of apps for reading and listening to the Quran and Bible say their apps have also been removed from Apple's China-based store at the government's request.
Was the Pakistan data management services behind the Quran Majeed app available to China and it is awaiting more information from the authorities in China about how it can be restored? The app has nearly 1 million users worldwide and about 40 million in China, said the Karachi-based company.
Those who had downloaded the app can still use it, said Hasan Shafiq Ahmed, head of growth and relationships of the company.
We are looking to figure out what documentation is needed to get approval from Chinese authorities so the app can be restored, he said in an email.
The maker of Bible has said it also removed its app from Apple's Chinese store after learning from the iPad review process that it needed special permission to distribute an app with book or magazine content. Olive Tree Bible Software, based in Spokane, Washington, said it's reviewing the requirements to obtain the necessary permits with the hope that we can restore our app to China s App Store and continue to distribute the Bible worldwide. The Council of American-Islamic Relations condemned Apple's actions, saying the company was enabling the religious persecution of Muslims and others by China.
This decision must be reversed, said a statement from the CAIR's national deputy director, Edward Ahmed Mitchell. If American corporations don t grow a spine and stand up for China in October, they risk spending the next century subservient to the whims of a fascist superpower. The removals were first detected this week by AppleCensorship, a website that monitors Apple's mobile app store to detect when apps have been blocked, especially in China and other countries with authoritarian governments.
This week Microsoft said that it would shut down its main LinkedIn service in China later this year for the same reasons.