Apple's iTunes Movies and iBooks Stores Mysteriously Go Down In China (appleinsider.com)

tedlistens writes: China-based customers of the iTunes movies and books stores reported network errors beginning on Thursday. Apple did not comment, but Apple Insider offers an unverified report that the storefronts have been closed "due to a pending government investigation into Apple's business practices." Apple first opened its doors to its movie and e-book online stores in China last September, which included the activation of Apple Music services. While the music streaming services remain operational, the movie and e-book stores are not. China's censorship laws and strict regulations in general have been tough for U.S. companies like Apple to navigate. Last year, Apple was actively disabling its iOS News app for its Chinese customers, a move many believe to be in adherence of China's censorship policies. Eddy Cue, SVP of Internet Software and Services, denied those claims.

Comments

We're All Hippies, Until Money Is Involved

[bretts]

Apple speaks a good game of pandering to the usual Leftist narrative here in the States. But that is free talk; they say a few things, give away a few iDildos, and their SJW audience fawns.

But when it comes to China, money is on the line. The government -- also Leftist -- is holding the market hostage by demanding that any companies who participate go along with the ideological censorship, which similar to that in the former USSR, prevents criticism of the State and its ideology of Leftism.

If Apple wants to show us that it is a "nice guy" company, it should turn down these China contracts. But in reality, to do so is business suicide. So the partnership between hippies and mass murderers continues much as it did in the 1960s, when Western hippies endorsed the USSR and the Viet Cong despite the nearly 100 million death toll of Communism.