Catholic app shut down as part of Chinese government crackdown

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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