China requests mobile app developers to register their businesses
2 Min Read
Chinese Information Ministry announced that all local mobile app providers should share their details with the government.
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In this April 27, 2017, photo, staff members work at a booth for Chinese technology firm Tencent, makers of the messaging app WeChat, at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) in Beijing (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
China's information ministry announced that the country will require all mobile app developers to register their businesses with the government. This is the latest step Beijing has taken to control the market.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced late on Tuesday that apps without correct filings will be punished after the grace period, which will end in March of next year.
According to You Yunting, a lawyer with the Shanghai-based DeBund Law Offices, the directive in fact necessitates ministry clearance. He said the new regulation would have an influence on all Chinese apps and is primarily intended to combat online fraud.
Read: Foreign companies in China no longer required to file with authorities
The new law is also likely to have an impact on foreign-based developers who have previously found it easy to publish their apps through Apple's (AAPL.O) App Store without having to submit any supporting documents to the Chinese authorities, according to Rich Bishop, co-founder of app publishing company AppInChina.
According to Bishop, app developers must now either have a company in China or collaborate with a local publisher in order to abide by the new regulations.
A request for comment from Apple was not immediately complied with.
Following China's introduction of a new licensing system for generating AI apps for the country, the iPhone manufacturer removed more than a hundred artificial intelligence (AI) apps from its App Store last week in order to comply with rules.
Entities "engaged in internet information services through apps in such fields as news, publishing, education, film and television and religion should also submit relevant documents," according to the ministry's notice.
The requirement might have an impact on the accessibility of well-known social networking platforms like X, Facebook, and Instagram. These apps cannot be used in China, but Chinese citizens can still download them from app stores and use them when they are outside of China.
Tens of thousands of unlicensed mobile games were removed from various app stores in 2020 in China, where it is already mandatory for games to obtain licenses before they can be released there.
