Apple promises to disclose more details about app removals
Enlarge / Apple has shared details of requests it has received from governments to take down apps in its Transparency Report. (credit: AFP/Getty Images)
Apple has promised to enhance disclosures about why it expels certain apps from its App Store, following claims that the tech giant's secretive decision-making process threatens freedom of expression in countries such as China and Russia.
Activist investors secured the commitment from Apple earlier this month, according to three people familiar with the agreement. Last March nearly a third of shareholders at its annual meeting backed a resolution calling for greater transparency in its relations with foreign governments.
Petitioners led by Azzad Asset Management, a faith-based investor in the US, and British activist investment platform Tulipshare had called on Apple to give more detail on why certain apps were pulled from the App Store after some Bible and Quran study tools were inexplicably banned from China in late 2021.