An offshore provider of technology used to skirt the Great Firewall said on Saturday that it was disappointed by Apple’s decision to drop its app from the mainland China App Store.
ExpressVPN, a British Virgin Islands-based virtual private network (VPN) provider, said its iOS app had been removed from the store.
A notice from Apple said the software “includes content that is illegal in China, which is not in compliance with the App Store review guidelines”, and the decision was made on Saturday, according to ExpressVPN.
Calls to Apple’s mainland China unit went unanswered on Saturday.
China is Apple’s major market for its flagship products, including the iPhone and iPad.
ExpressVPN said it was troubled to see Apple aiding China’s censorship efforts and strongly condemned the measures, which threatened free speech and civil liberties.