Apple removes 8,000 Vietnamese apps for fraud

In its App Store 2022 Transparency Report, Apple said it has around 1.78 million applications and removed 186,195 last year.

The largest number, 38,883, was in the Games category.

Vietnamese apps accounted for 8,462. Most of them — 4,657 — were removed for violating design standards. Fraud caused the removal of 3,626 apps, the second highest of any country’s.

According to Apple’s guidelines, design violations include applications that are outdated or have worse user experience than it expects, like redirecting to a website before running the app.

Fraud included applications that create fraudulent reviews of competitors, unfair competition or false content to lure users.

There were also other reasons for removal such as violating developers’ code of conduct, copying other apps’ designs, spam apps, violating intellectual property rights, fake news, etc.

The report also showed that Vietnam was among the top 10 countries to appeal removals, with 11 out of 416 proving successful.

China had the most apps removed with 41,000, followed by the U.S. with 32,000, and India with 10,000.

China had the most apps removed for fraud and violating developers’ code of conduct, while the U.S. led in design violations and spams.