Censorship of the iTunes Store refers to external attempts at blocking access to digital content distributed through the
iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
.
Australia
In 2010, the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...
announced its intent to subject the 220,000 mobile apps available on the Australia App Store to
Australian Classification Board
The Australian Classification Board (ACB or CB) is an Australian government statutory body responsible for the classification and censorship of films, video games and publications for exhibition, sale or hire in Australia. The ACB was establis ...
regulations, which require that developers pay evaluation fees ranging from $470 to $2040. A 2011 article in the '' Sydney Morning Herald'' clarified that "Australians will soon be able to complain about mobile game apps they take offence to and get them removed from app stores such as Apple's iTunes if they're deemed 'refused classification'. And if mobile game apps are classified anything above MA15+ and the government doesn't introduce an R18+ games classification (which it plans to vote on in July), then any game app rated over MA15+ will also be refused classification." Sentiments were also expressed over other apps: "What is unclear, however, is how the Classification Board will classify apps that aren't necessarily games like
Grindr
Grindr () is a location-based social networking and online dating application targeted towards members of the gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community.
It was one of the first geosocial apps for gay men when it launched in March 2009 an ...
, an app for gay users which uses PSto find nearby males."
China
The China App Store was affected by connection-level censorship until an unknown point in time when
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...
enabled a
HTTPS
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It is used for secure communication over a computer network, and is widely used on the Internet. In HTTPS, the communication protocol is enc ...
-by-default configuration. Searches for '
VPN
A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. The be ...
', for example, would cause the connection to be reset.
The
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the Chinese government, established in March 2008, is the state agency of the People's Republic of China responsible for regulation and development of the postal service, Internet, wireless ...
said on 13 December 2012 that it planned to strengthen regulation of China's mobile applications market. The Shanghai-based ''IT Times'' quoted Chen Jinqiao as saying that the plans included "
ringing
Ringing may mean:
Vibrations
* Ringing (signal), unwanted oscillation of a signal, leading to ringing artifacts
* Vibration of a harmonic oscillator
** Bell ringing
* Ringing (telephony), the sound of a telephone bell
* Ringing (medicine), a ri ...
app developers under supervision and stablishinga real-name registration system for independent developers.
In 2013, Apple pulled several apps from the China App Store for containing books banned by the government. Several apps enabling users to bypass the
Great Firewall
The Great Firewall (''GFW''; ) is the combination of legislative actions and technologies enforced by the People's Republic of China to regulate the Internet domestically. Its role in internet censorship in China is to block access to selected for ...
and access restricted sites in China were also removed later. The Apple News application bundled with iOS 9 is disabled in China for all users as well, of which all contents, including the articles already downloaded to the device, are not available to read in China.
Apple's
iBooks iBooks may refer to:
* iBooks, the former name of Apple Books.
* ibooks Inc., a book and comics publishing company founded by Byron Preiss
Byron Preiss (April 11, 1953 – July 9, 2005) The services were disabled by the
State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television
The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) is a ministry-level executive agency controlled by the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its main task is the administration and supervision of state-owned enterpr ...
of China after the authority introduced regulations imposing strict curbs on online publishing, particularly for foreign firms. Apple said in response that they hope to restore the services in China "as soon as possible".