The American multinational explained to Radio France that it is complying with the Chinese administration, which judges that the Radio France application contains “illegal content in China”.
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“The app would influence Chinese public opinion”, this is how Laurent Frisch, director of digital and innovation strategy at Radio France, explains this surprising request from Beijing. The Chinese administration has in fact asked Apple to withdraw two applications from the French public group: France Inter, and the Radio France application which brings together all the company’s live broadcasts and podcasts.
The American firm, creator of the iPhone and iPad which are very popular in China, therefore informed Radio France of the current withdrawal of the two apps in the Chinese version of its App Store. Apple explains that it complied at the request of the Chinese Cyberspace Administration (CAC), which judges that the Radio France application “includes content that is illegal in China.”
On the social network two applications targeted by Beijing.
Radio France is not the first company to suffer from Chinese censorship. Last April, Meta learned that its WhatsApp and Threads applications had been removed from the Chinese version of the Apple App Store. “We are obliged to respect the laws in force in the countries where we operate, even if we do not agree,” Apple defended itself in a statement sent to AFP.
In China, to use Google, YouTube, or social networks like Instagram, Facebook, you must use a VPN, a virtual private network. For many years, China has had strict regulations in place on the internet.
