Apparently banned from authorities
China doesn’t want to know anything about the iPhone ban
September 13, 2023, 11:18 a.m
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A week ago, insiders and media reported that China had banned its civil servants from using iPhones in government offices. Now a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry speaks out and makes it clear: There was no such order.
The Chinese government has rejected reports of a ban on the use of iPhones in government offices and state-owned companies. There is no such order, said Mao Ning, spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. “We hope that all companies operating in China will strictly adhere to China’s data protection law.” Recently, however, it was noticed that “many media outlets” had uncovered security gaps in connection with Apple’s best-selling iPhone, she explained, without going into more detail about the reports she mentioned.
Insiders and the media previously reported that government employees were no longer allowed to bring smartphones from the US company and other foreign manufacturers to their workplace. The officers received the instructions from their superiors in chat groups or meetings at work.
Beijing has been restricting the use of iPhones by government agencies in some agencies for years. However, the new arrangement goes much further, reported the Wall Street Journal. The step could also be a retaliatory measure: In the USA there are restrictions for officials to use smartphones from the Chinese manufacturer Huawei and the Chinese short video app Tiktok.
China is currently Apple’s third largest sales market. The company introduced the latest generation of its smartphones, the iPhone 15, on Tuesday.