Kowtowing once again to the Government of the People’s Republic of China, tech giant Apple is reported to be blocking its news app in the Middle Kingdom.

The New York Times reports that while the app is only currently available to download in the United States, with trials underway in both the United Kingdom and Australia, users with the app installed have been able to use it freely while traveling, with the notable exception of China.

Of note the report claims that the app so far hasn’t been blocked by China’s censorship regime (colloquially known as the Great Firewall of China) but by a decision of Apple’s management.

Users of the app traveling in China who look at the top of the Apple News feed are said to see an error message that reads: “Can’t refresh right now. News isn’t supported in your current region.”

Apple does have the option of censoring the app in China, as many local app makers and providers already do, however doing so would involve the company establishing its own censorship team presumably within China itself, something Apple is not currently prepared to do.

“They’re censoring news content that I downloaded and stored on my device purchased in the USA, before I even enter China just because my phone happens to connect to a Chinese signal floating over the border,” tech entrepreneur Larry Salibra said in a post on Reddit. “On device censorship is much different than having your server blocked by the Great Firewall or not enabling a feature for customers with certain country iTunes account. That Apple has little choice doesn’t make it any less creepy or outrageous.”

China has become vitally important in Apple’s growth in the last few years, with the country becoming Apple’s largest market outside of its native United States, with some reports noting that China now accounts for 27 percent of all Apple sales globally.

Not a good look

Apple’s decision to censor their news app in China is not a good look for a company that prides itself as being progressive and champions at times various causes including human rights and environmentalism.

That said, Apple’s decision to censor the app in China is a practical one: as a public company it has to put shareholders first, and being in China means playing lovey-dovey with the ruling Communist Party and keeping them onside, lest you end up being blocked or banned altogether in a country with a population of 1.4 billion and an emergent middle class that will soon be greater that the entire population of the United States put together.

Just ask Mark Zuckerberg who despite having the biggest social network on the planet can’t get Facebook into the Chinese marketplace.

Apple so far has made no official comment on the news.

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