US Podcast Platform Pocket Casts Says Apple Removed App From China Store

In a message on Twitter, Pocket Casts said that its app has been removed ... by Apple at the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).

By Reuters | Updated: 11 June 2020 17:47 IST

US Podcast Platform Pocket Casts Says Apple Removed App From China Store

Pockets Casts is ranked 85th most popular in the podcast news app section on Apple's US website

Highlights

Pockets Casts is ranked 85th most popular in the podcast news app section
It wasn't immediately verified why the app wasn't available in the store
The removal comes amid growing debate over China and freedom of speech

New York-based podcasting platform Pocket Casts said its app had been taken down from Apple's app store in China.

Reuters couldn't immediately verify why the app was no longer available in the store.

Pockets Casts, ranked 85th most popular in the podcast news app section on Apple's US website, said on Wednesday the move was taken by Apple after intervention by Beijing's top Internet watchdog.

Apple US officials weren't immediately available for comment outside regular US market hours. Reuters was not immediately able to contact the CAC by fax using the official number provided for the watchdog by the government.

The removal comes amid growing debate over China and freedom of speech after a resurgence of activity by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, angered by Beijing's plans to impose new security laws.

Separately US-based Chinese activists said on Thursday that Zoom Video Communications temporarily shut an account after the activists held an event to commemorate the 31st anniversary of China's Tiananmen Square crackdown.

In a message on Twitter, Pocket Casts said that its app "has been removed ... by Apple at the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC)".

Pocket Casts has been removed from the Chinese App store by Apple, at the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China. We believe podcasting is and should remain an open medium, free of government censorship. As such we won't be censoring podcast content at their request.
— Pocket Casts (@pocketcasts) June 11, 2020

"We were contacted by the CAC through Apple around two days before the app was removed from the store," Pocket Casts said on Twitter.

© Thomson Reuters 2020

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