China has continued its crackdown on tech giants. Just as Microsoft has shut down LinkedIn in the country, Apple has taken down a Quran app and a Bible app in the country at the request of Chinese officials, the company confirmed to the BBC.
The apps, which are called Quran Majeed and Bible App by Olive Tree, were first reported as having been taken down by activist website Apple Censorship.
Apple directed the BBC to its Human Rights policy, which says: “We’re required to comply with local laws, and at times there are complex issues about which we may disagree with governments and other stakeholders on the right path forward. “
Apple told the BBC that Chinese officials had said the apps breached laws on hosting illegal religious texts.
Quran Majeed has over 5 million downloads on the Google Play Store, while Bible App by Olive Tree has just over 1 million.
The developer of the Quran Majeed app confirmed that the app had been removed from China’s App Store, and said Apple had instructed it to contact the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).
“According to Apple, our app Quran Majeed has been removed from the China App Store because it includes content that is illegal in China as determined by the CAC, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines,” Hasan Shafiq Ahmed, head of growth at Pakistan Data Management, told Insider in an email.
“We are trying to get in touch with CAC and relevant Chinese authorities to get this issue resolved as we had close to a million users for our app in China that have been impacted,” Ahmed added.
