An app called CathAssist, designed for Chinese Catholics, was shut down last week. The company behind it was unable to get a licence from the Chinese government to continue operations.
According to the CathAssist team, “Since the implementation of [new rules] on 1 March, we have made various efforts to apply for an Internet Religious Information Service Licence. We have taken various actions including suspending sharing, changing our name, adjusting content … but getting a licence requires a much larger reduction in functionality and content”.
A Catholic from a northern Chinese province said that he had the app for a long time and that it stopped working on 24 August.
Referring to the company running the app, the man said, “[They] worked hard for several months [to get the licence], but in the end they failed, so it has been shut down”.
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