Apple Will Soon Report on Government App Store Takedown Requests

In the aftermath of the Edward Snowden NSA mass surveillance saga (for a refresher, browse through our series, Keeping Up with the Snoops), Apple began publishing a bi-annual transparency report documenting government information requests (see “Apple Goes Public on Privacy,” 24 September 2014). In its just-released report (PDF), which covers the period from 1 July 2017 to 31 December 2017, Apple notes at the bottom:

Starting with the Transparency Report period July 1 – December 31 2018, Apple will report on Government requests to take down Apps from the App Store in instances related to alleged violations of legal and/or policy provisions.

This tidbit arrived at an opportune time, as the Russian government has ordered Apple to remove the Telegram secure messaging app from the Russian App Store. Apple was previously ordered to remove VPN apps from the App Store by the Chinese government (see “Apple Removes VPN Apps from Chinese App Store,” 31 July 2017).

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