At the request of the Chinese authorities, Apple has pulled one of the most popular Quran apps in China from the App Store. The app has been banned in China for allegedly offering illegal religious texts. The app’s removal was first noticed by Apple Censorship, a website that monitors apps in the Apple App Store worldwide.
Quran Majeed app contains religious Islamic texts and other information for praying. The application is available worldwide on the App Store, has about 35 million users and almost 150,000 reviews. It is also one of the most popular apps in China.
“According to Apple, our Quran Majeed app has been removed from the China App store because it contains content that requires additional documentation from the Chinese authorities,” said PDMS, the company behind the app. “We are trying to get in touch with the Cyberspace Administration of China and the relevant Chinese authorities to get this matter resolved.” According to PDMS, there are nearly one million users of Quran Majeed in China.
The Chinese Communist Party officially recognizes Islam as a religion in the country, but China is simultaneously accused of human rights violations and even genocide against the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group in Xinjiang province.
Large sales market
In a response to the BBC, Apple referred to their human rights policy, which states that the company must comply with local law, even though “there are sometimes complex issues on which we disagree with governments.”
But there are other reasons why Apple can better keep up with China. China is one of Apple’s largest markets, and the tech company relies heavily on the country to run its hardware supply chain.
Quran Majeed is not the only app that has been removed from the Chinese App Store. Olive Tree’s Bible app was also removed from its online store in China this week. According to Olive Tree, Apple has proactively removed the app from the Store.
The Quran Majeed app will continue to be available on the App Store in other countries, as well as on Google Play – although Google Play is technically not available in China either. However, people can access it through a VPN connection.
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