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China The Internet Apple

Apple's China App Store Sheds Videogames as Beijing Tightens Internet Control (wsj.com) 79

Posted by msmash from the stranger-things dept.
Apple is booting thousands of videogame apps [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source] from its platform in China as the government clamps down harder on such content, illustrating the tech giant's vulnerability to state pressure on its business. From a report: The iPhone maker this month warned Chinese developers that a new wave of paid gaming apps are at risk of removal from its app store, according to a memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal, after the company removed thousands of such apps earlier this year. The Chinese government four years ago began requiring videogames to be licensed before being released, but developers were able to skirt the requirement in Apple's app store. Apple hasn't said why the loophole existed or why the company began closing it this year. Foreign software developers lament the change, citing difficulty securing approval in China for their games.
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Apple's China App Store Sheds Videogames as Beijing Tightens Internet Control More

Apple's China App Store Sheds Videogames as Beijing Tightens Internet Control

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  • Because China doesn't want to send foreigners cash (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    This is probably a big motivator.

    China doesn't like the amount of money going out of the country to foreign countries(developers).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      Making the trade deficit even bigger will fuel further nationalists/isolationists like Donald. China is playing with fire. They are like a child who grew strong and large in adolescence but doesn't realize it yet. When they bump into furniture the entire house hears it now.

      They better change or anti-trade-deficit politicians will control US policy. I'm just the messenger.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 )

        Making the trade deficit even bigger will fuel further nationalists/isolationists like Donald.

        The actual size of the deficit makes little difference. The nationalism of Trump supporters is not based on reality. They demanded a wall on the Mexican border despite immigration from Mexico that peaked more than a decade ago. The trade war with China predictably widened the deficit as the Chinese bought soybeans from Brazil, ramped up production of their own semiconductors, and watched more of their own movies.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Shaitan ( 22585 )

          False.

          https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenroberts/2020/10/22/us-deficit-with-china-lowest-since-2011-up-with-mexico-rest-of-world/?sh=20e07ca9a576

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Tablizer ( 95088 )

          The actual size of the [trade] deficit makes little difference.

          That's debatable, but it doesn't matter if it's perceived to be a problem by those losing jobs to offshoring and outsourcing. Politics is shaped by perception, not necessarily reality.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gtall ( 79522 )

          To be fair, the alleged president's supporters were whining about not being able to take those low wage jobs such as vegetable picking because the immigrants were taking them all. Now that the wall is being built, we can expect to put the alleged president's supporters into useful work.

      • China doesn't care what lazy senile burger munchers like Trump think, they plan over the span of decades, the West only thinks about the next quarter. Having overgrown toddlers in the Whitehouse wrecking their own country only helps China in their goal of global supremacy.

  • Apple and Tim Cook have no spine ... Them collaborating with CPC's China reminds me of Gervais's Golden Globe speech bit on Apple. Hypocrites galore, all Apple FanBoys.
    • Apple has invested billions in China and China's future. Why would Apple walk away from those investments? Apple didn't invest nearly as much in any other country, and so Apple knows its future is China.

      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-china-idUSKCN10R14G

      https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/09/apple-launched-china-clean-energy-fund-invests-in-three-wind-farms/

      https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/07/apple-launches-new-clean-energy-fund-in-china/

      https://9to5mac.com/2017/03/17/apple-chinese-rd-centers-sh

      • I know you're right in several ways, but, Apple invested a metric shit ton of time and money in China in A calculated business move to benefit Apple... not intentionally to the advantage of China over the US.

        If that had to happen to further Apple's success, well, so be it; but, it was collateral damage rather than designed behavior.

        The Western tech giants have flocked to China (and India) because of the huge potential markets. Corporations typically worship return on shareholder value over petty human value

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Shaitan ( 22585 )

          "The Western tech giants have flocked to China (and India) because of the huge potential markets. Corporations typically worship return on shareholder value over petty human values like decency, and forget about nationalism and loyalty."

          Right. Which is why we should use the international agreements already in place to seize their wealth for nationalist purposes like healthcare or a UBI.

    • Re:Spineless (Score:5, Insightful)

      by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Friday December 25, 2020 @05:54PM (#60865948)
      Having a spine isn't really an option here. China is a dictatorship/oligarchy. What the Xi and the Chinese Communist Party says, that's the law. Period. End of discussion. Foreign companies can do what they are told, or they can leave. There isn't much middle ground.

      Local companies don't have it all that much better. Witness what's happening to Jack Ma right now. He got too big, too powerful, too fast. He also made the mistake of thinking that his success in business gave him the leeway to openly criticize the CCP, and the government is currently in the process of making an example of him. There's a limit to how successful and powerful a business can get in China, and that limit is a small fraction of the power of the Communist Party.

      Incidentally, this is why I'm pretty sure that China's overall world power is going to be self-limiting, and we're probably witnessing them approach the asymptote. A lot of Sinophiles on this site talk about how China is the next great-power model, and the west has had it's moment. I think the west has more time at the top. We allow companies and capitalism to grow and gain power that equals or, in some aspects of society, exceeds that of the government. This is a feature, not a bug. Our governments have ceded a great deal of real power to the capitalists and the markets, and our whole society is stronger as a result. Capitalism creates LOTS of problems, but it also creates an environment where the average US worker is somewhere around 3 times as productive as the average Chinese worker. That's a BIG advantage, and China is seems unwilling to go down the capitalist road more than about 30% of the way.

      • Re:Spineless (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Snotnose ( 212196 ) on Friday December 25, 2020 @07:02PM (#60866038)

        Having a spine isn't really an option here. China is a dictatorship/oligarchy. What the Xi and the Chinese Communist Party says, that's the law. Period. End of discussion. Foreign companies can do what they are told, or they can leave. There isn't much middle ground.

        So fucking leave. Can't show Winnie the Pooh in a movie? fuck you. Can't mention the massacre/mass imprisonment of the Ulghurs? fuck you. Poisoning household pets cuz reasons? fuck you. If I want to sell stuff in your country I have to build a factory there and give you all my IP? fuck you. Jail the doctor that first noticed the current Corona virus attack? fuck you.

        I'm sorry, I understand they are a multi-billion dollar market. But somewhere down the line you have to look at what they do on a daily basis and just say
        FUCK YOU.

        • Another aspect of capitalism is that companies do business where they choose. Within limits, of course, but currently we allow companies to do biznezz in China, if they decide it's worth the hassle. You might not approve, but that's the free market, baby.

          Again, there are limits. If the US gov decides that they need to be put on the official s8^t-list, than things change. However, the US tries to be pretty selective about who gets on that list. China isn't there, and probably never will be. So, some com

        • If Apple is going to pull out of China because of app censorship, then they should also pull out of Russia because of Crimea, pull out of India for its treatment of Kashmiris, pull out of Europe for its hate speech laws and veil bans, and finally, pull out of America for Guantanamo, its death penalty, excessive incarceration rate, and non-participation in the Paris accords.

          • Apple is not going to pull out of China... they may get kicked out one day, but they'll go kicking and screaming.

            Is this a move with designed intent? Perhaps they hope taking the video games has the effect of riling the populace into a Tiananmen-level frenzy.

            ‘Fight and you may die. Run and you will live at least awhile. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our game play!’

          • Re:Spineless (Score:4, Insightful)

            by DrMrLordX ( 559371 ) on Friday December 25, 2020 @11:16PM (#60866306)

            Are you another one of these lovely people trying to equate China's actions with those of other countries? Are you seriously doing that? Skewer the US if you will (or won't), but "Europe's hate speech laws and veil bans"? You have got to be kidding me.

            Hmm let's see.

            Imprison hundreds of thousands of Uighurs in forced labor camps or

            . . .

            ban veils.

            Well I can't see any difference there!

            • America has something even more insidious than forced labor camps. We have so many people in prison that a useful number of them will volunteer to make a dollar a day doing hard labor in order to get their bullshit sentence reduced. Some of them get so much as two dollars per day!

              • Sadly, a lot of those people actually committed crimes, though. Maybe not all of them, but a lot of them. The only practical way to stop jailing so many people is to just give up and let them run free with slaps on the wrist.

                It's fun to say "oh the sentences are too harsh" and "the corporate prison complex encourages incarceration!" but you've got to realize that there wouldn't be corporate prisons at all if there weren't so many violent criminals running around in the United States. We've got boatloads

            • Is it worse for a muslim to be in a Chinese labour camp, or drone striked by America? Or put into an American privatised prison for slave labour because Madame Vice President deliberately withheld evidence proving your innocence? Or because President Girl-Sniffer passed a law to put more 'rape apes' in prison to pander to his segregationist friends?

        • Having a spine isn't really an option here. China is a dictatorship/oligarchy. What the Xi and the Chinese Communist Party says, that's the law. Period. End of discussion. Foreign companies can do what they are told, or they can leave. There isn't much middle ground.

          So fucking leave. Can't show Winnie the Pooh in a movie? fuck you. Can't mention the massacre/mass imprisonment of the Ulghurs? fuck you. Poisoning household pets cuz reasons? fuck you. If I want to sell stuff in your country I have to build a factory there and give you all my IP? fuck you. Jail the doctor that first noticed the current Corona virus attack? fuck you.

          This checks out

          I'm sorry, I understand they are a multi-billion dollar market. But somewhere down the line you have to look at what they do on a daily basis and just say
          FUCK YOU.

        • Having a spine isn't really an option here. China is a dictatorship/oligarchy. What the Xi and the Chinese Communist Party says, that's the law. Period. End of discussion. Foreign companies can do what they are told, or they can leave. There isn't much middle ground.

          I'm sorry, I understand they are a multi-billion dollar market. But somewhere down the line you have to look at what they do on a daily basis and just say
          FUCK YOU.

          Western companies won't do this because they assume that their competitors can be the ones to take the moral stand and forgo the financial rewards. Currently, the money offered by the Chinese market is larger than the threshold of morality for corporations. Because of this market dynamic, foreign economic efforts will be useless in forcing change in China.

          However, change will eventually come because the Chinese system of strict control requires the obedience of too many leaders. The world might have to w

      • Capitalism creates LOTS of problems, but it also creates an environment where the average US worker is somewhere around 3 times as productive as the average Chinese worker.

        China has capitalism, they just also have authoritarianism. They certainly don't have communism, as they have currency and a class system.

        The productivity of the worker matters less and less because robots do more and more of the work. There are also three times as many Chinese as there are Americans. Labor efficiency is really not China's problem. Their problem is feeding all those mouths. That's why they have a bunch of projects to reclaim desert right now; they want to develop food independence. Right no

      • Having a spine isn't really an option here. China is a dictatorship/oligarchy. What the Xi and the Chinese Communist Party says, that's the law. Period. End of discussion. Foreign companies can do what they are told, or they can leave. There isn't much middle ground

        If a major multinational company were to refuse to do business with China on ethical grounds, I imagine it would be quite difficult to justify that decision to shareholders. Yes, there are examples of retailers sourcing from ethical suppliers, e.g. Fairtrade, but that then becomes a selling point for their goods, which is presumably good for the retailer's bottom line.

        Uighur work camp labour being used to harvest cotton in China has been in the news recently. I am sure many people would prefer to buy clothe

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Shaitan ( 22585 )

        "Having a spine isn't really an option here. China is a dictatorship/oligarchy. What the Xi and the Chinese Communist Party says, that's the law. Period. End of discussion. Foreign companies can do what they are told, or they can leave. There isn't much middle ground."

        So having a spine is an option, you can take your ball and go home. What is wrong with that choice?

    • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

      by Freischutz ( 4776131 )

      Apple and Tim Cook have no spine ... Them collaborating with CPC's China reminds me of Gervais's Golden Globe speech bit on Apple. Hypocrites galore, all Apple FanBoys.

      Every time one of you pathetic trolls shows up here to spew your venom, this is how I picture you: https://www.penny-arcade.com/c... [penny-arcade.com]

    • Well it is illegal to show the bones of humans in China.
  • China has a history of banning video games because it doesnâ(TM)t watch people playing them too much. Frankly this is a good idea and although I disagree with this on a fundamental level of freedom, the USA would benefit from reduced video game usage.

  • ... that does not lead to the Party's victory over the capitalist running dogs is an unnecessary distraction.

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