What’s new: China said it has pulled TripAdvisor — the hotel and restaurant booking website — from mobile app stores in the country as part of broader efforts to “clean up” the internet.
China’s cyberspace administration office has taken down over 100 apps that “were reported by internet users to have spread illegal content,” in particular focusing on offenses related to “obscenity, pornography, prostitution, violence, fraud or gambling” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
The internet regulator did not provide more details on why the U.S. TripAdvisor was put on the list.
Here are the details: Most of the other apps on the list belong to local Chinese firms. The removal of these apps is part of a program that started last month to overhaul the general online environment surrounding mobile applications.
“The cyberspace regulator will continue to advance the work on cleaning up mobile applications, and step up supervision and inspection on mobile apps’ information services,” the agency said in a statement, adding that the actions were to “actively clear out those violating the laws and regulations to build a clean cyberspace.”
Contact reporter Anniek Bao (yunxinbao@caixin.com) and editor Marcus Ryder (marcusryder@caixin.com)
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