Apple: China leads globe in gambling app takedown requests

Tech giant Apple says gambling apps featured prominently in government requests for removal from local app stores last year.

On Tuesday, Apple released its latest transparency report covering the second half of 2018, which for the first time included details on various governments requesting that the company purge certain apps from local app stores.

According to the report, Apple received 80 requests for removal of certain apps based on governments’ claims that the apps violated local laws. Of these requests, 75 resulted in the takedown of the offending apps. The total number of apps specified in these requests was 770, and 634 apps were eventually removed by Apple.

Mainland China accounted for 56 of the takedown requests and 626 of the allegedly offending apps, the “vast majority” of which Apple said related to “illegal gambling or pornography.” Only two of the takedown requests were challenged in part or rejected in full by Apple, and 55 of China’s requests resulted in the offending apps being removed.