China cracks down on ‘malicious’ apps and games, including some by Tencent
The communist regime accuses apps of cheating users and some games, such as Naughty Housemaid, of causing ‘online hooligan activities’
Beijing — China’s cyber-watchdog said on Thursday it has deleted close to 8,000 “malicious” mobile apps including a video game distributed by tech giant Tencent, as regulators step up efforts to tighten control over the country’s internet. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement it had ordered telecom operators to shut down the services of 7,873 apps after finding they had overcharged and cheated users as well as stolen information. It launched the campaign in September with other Chinese government ministries to target “malicious mobile apps that infringe on users’ rights”, the agency said. Among the apps targeted by the agency was a Chinese version of Fruit Ninja developed by iDreamSky Technology Holdings and distributed by Tencent. The game caused economic losses to users by tricking them into signing up to unwanted fee-based services, the agency said. Other games such as Bathroom Goddess and Naughty Housemaid that were developed and published by other fi...
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