APP development management measures will be issued and APP development may require annual filing and review

[[121730]]

APP application development management measures will be issued. Experts predict:

It is reported that the Cyberspace Administration of China will introduce measures to manage the development of APP applications. This regulatory measure will involve millions of APP application developers.

Yesterday, a person in charge of the Internet Information Office of Guangdong Province confirmed the news and said that relevant policies are being formulated.

An expert said that various junk apps are emerging in an endless stream and it is time to rectify them. He expects that the regulatory authorities will introduce a filing system for apps, and relevant developers will need to file and undergo annual review.

Million APPs

In a regulatory vacuum

Data shows that as of now, there are more than 1 million apps on Apple's APP Store. Apple claims that the total downloads of its app store have reached 35 billion times in four years. Google revealed in October that its Android platform APP applications have reached 700,000.

Zhang Yi, vice president of the Guangdong Internet Association, said that the APP market is developing rapidly, but there is a regulatory vacuum, and government departments only have some management over application distribution platforms.

He said that the permissions of various apps are too chaotic and out of control, which infringes on user rights, violates personal privacy, and threatens information security. Especially with the development and popularization of Internet finance, there are more and more issues involving transaction security.

Currently, many APP clients capture users’ personal information and address books, which actually infringes on users’ right to personal information, and the personal information of non-APP users will also be exposed.

Some mobile phone users also said that the new mobile phone software was full of advertisements, which was a headache. Some apps popped up advertisements like crazy, even filling up the notification bar.

Relevant policies are being formulated

Not yet transmitted to Guangdong

Zhang Yi predicted that the regulatory authorities may launch a filing system for APPs, and relevant developers will need to obtain licenses and annual inspections. A person in charge of the Internet Information Office of Guangdong Province said that relevant policies are being formulated and have not yet been communicated to Guangdong. The current APP market is mixed, and many APP practitioners who operate in a standardized manner have also expressed concerns. The relevant person in charge of an APP company believes that the operability of product filing is not strong, and its products are updated every one or two weeks, and the review will be cumbersome. For example, for some educational software applications, it is even more unfeasible to have one class as an APP.

The person in charge of another APP also said that plans such as filing and review are not realistic. If the APP has been established as a company, it can provide a business license, but there are still a large number of individual developers, and the number is so large that it would be very difficult for relevant departments to check them with manpower.

In addition to APPs, in August this year, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued the "Interim Provisions on the Development and Management of Public Information Services of Instant Messaging Tools", which has brought social platforms such as WeChat into the regulatory track.