Apple withdraws thousands of gambling apps in China

The company started a crackdown on gambling after criticism for failing to meet regulations.

China.- Apple removed thousands of gambling apps from its Chinese store after the state-run broadcaster accused the company of failing to remove banned content. The company confirmed the actions and said it was only complying with regulations.

Earlier this month, the local media accused Apple of hosting illegal and fake lottery-ticket apps, which ended up in millionaire losses for users. CCTV also reported that Apple removed more than 4,000 apps tagged with the keyword “gambling” on August 9th.

In an emailed statement, the company said that gambling apps are illegal and not allowed on the App Store in China. “We have already removed many apps and developers for trying to distribute illegal gambling apps on our App Store, and we are vigilant in our efforts to find these and stop them from being on the App Store,” reads the statement.

Over the weekend, CCTV said that Apple removed a large number of apps, and reported that approximately 25,000 were removed from the App Store. While several reports indicate a similar number, Apple declined to comment on the number of Apps removed from its Chinese Store.