Apple is pulling the Radio France and France Inter apps in China, at the request of authorities
The American multinational company explained to Radio France that it complies with the Chinese administration, which believes that the Radio France application contains “content that is illegal in China.”
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“The app will influence Chinese public opinion.”This is how Laurent Freche, Director of Digital Strategy and Innovation at Radio France, explains this surprising request from Beijing. In fact, the Chinese administration asked Apple to withdraw two applications from the French public group: France Inter, and the Radio France application that collects all of the company's live broadcasts and podcasts.
The American company, which manufactures the iPhone and iPad, which are very popular in China, informed Radio France that it was withdrawing the two applications from the Chinese version of its application store. Apple explains that it has complied with the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which considers the Radio France app “Contains content that is illegal in China.”
On the social network there are two applications targeted by Beijing.
Radio France is not the first company to suffer from Chinese censorship. Last April, Meta learned that WhatsApp and Threads had been removed from the Chinese version of Apple's App Store. “We are obligated to respect the laws in force in the countries in which we operate, even if we do not agree.” Apple defended itself in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse.
In China, to use Google, YouTube, or social networks like Instagram or Facebook, you must use a VPN, which is a virtual private network. For many years, China has had strict regulations in place on the Internet.
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