Apple Inc has published the number of requests, for the first time, it’s received from the governments to take down the apps from its app store, according to the latest transparency report published on Tuesday, the tech giant said that it had received 80 requests from the 11 countries to remove its 634 apps from its localized app stores during the time period of July 1 and December 31, 2018.
China had made up the bulk of requests, in which it is seeking to remove 517 apps, claiming they violated its gambling and pornography laws, and Apple Inc didn’t list apps that were removed but noted in most of the cases why apps were pulled.
Austria and Vietnam also requested the takedown of many apps that violated its gambling laws, while another country Kuwait asked Apple Inc to pull some apps that fell afoul of its privacy laws.
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey were among the countries that also requested for removal of some of the apps along with Norway, Switzerland and The Netherlands.
This move by the tech giant came more than a year after it promised to publish figures, starting with this latest transparency report.
Apple Inc also said that it will in a future transparency report slated for mid of 2020, in which it will report on the appeals received in response to the government demands to remove the apps from Apple Inc’s localized app stores.
For the very first time, Apple Inc posted that the several national security letters it received permission to publish. The National security letters (NSLs) are also the controversial subpoenas issued by the Federal bureau of Investigation (FBI) with no any judicial oversight, and often with a gag order preventing company from revealing their existence.
