Apple removes two podcast apps from app store at China’s request

Apple Inc removed podcast apps Pocket Casts and Castro from its App Store in China at the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China, the apps’ developers said this week.

“We believe podcasting is and should remain an open medium, free of government censorship,” Pocket Casts wrote on Twitter. “As such we won’t be censoring podcast content at their request.” The developers said that Apple contacted them on behalf of the Chinese regulator and that the app was removed two days later.

The developer wrote that Apple said Pocket Casts includes “content that is illegal in China as determined by the CAC.”