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Apple Closed Down Chinese iTunes and iBooks Stores

Well-known Chinese IT news site ITHome reported on April 22 that Apple closed down Mainland China region’s iTunes Store and iBooks Store. Devices in that region lost all of the related services. The reopen date is currently uncertain. According to undisclosed sources, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) shut down  the two Stores. The SAPPRFT required Apple to review its Store content and to establish content monitoring mechanisms. Not long ago the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the SAPPRFT jointly released Administrative Regulations on Internet Publishing Services, which went in effect on March 10. The Regulations included Internet music and movies in its scope. The Regulations required that content served in China must locate servers and storage inside China and the legal representative of the service provider company must be a Chinese citizen who is also a permanent Chinese resident. Companies registered as fully or partially owned by foreign investors are not allowed in the Chinese Internet publishing market. The Regulations did leave some room for exceptions after review and approval by the SAPPRFT.
Source: ITHome, April 22, 2016
http://www.ithome.com/html/iphone/220056.htm