Apple explains why it removed VPN apps in China

After China, Russia has also gone ahead and banned VPNs and other apps and services that allow users to visit websites anonymously. The new law was signed by President Vladimir Putin today and will go into effect on November 1.

Apple gave the following statement to TechCrunch:

Earlier this year China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced that all developers offering VPNs must obtain a license from the government. We have been required to remove some VPN apps in China that do not meet the new regulations.

As for the move from the Russian government, it comes at a time as the government seeks to limit negative political content on the internet against it. In 2015, the Russian government ordered that user data of all Russian citizens should be stored in servers hosted in the country itself. Then, in 2016, another law was passed that required ISPs to retain a user’s traffic data for at least a year. And with this move, the country is making access to the open internet more difficult for its citizens.

It comes into force on November 1.