San Francisco: Shares of Tripadvisor fell on Nasdaq after the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) announced it has banned 105 mobile apps including the US-based travel booking and review site.
Shares of the company fell 1.68 per cent Tuesday to close at $29.49.
The CAC said that it removed the “first batch of 105 mobile applications” from various online stores in the country as part of efforts to “clean up” China’s Internet.
While specific reasons for removal of each of apps were not cited, the CAC said that the apps violated laws and regulations.
Most of the apps banned by the agency which oversees Internet regulations and censorship in China are built by Chinese developers.
The CAC said it will continue to promote the “rectification of mobile applications, strengthen the supervision and inspection of mobile application information services.”
At the same time, eight app stores were taken down for not fulfilling the review requirements and having illegal applications, it said.
The agency said that it will promptly clean up and dispose of illegal mobile applications and application stores, and strive to create a clean cyberspace.
Tripadvisor had last year announced a strategic partnership with Trip.com Group Ltd., formerly known as Ctrip.com International Ltd., to expand global cooperation, including a joint venture, global content agreements and a governance agreement.
It was decided that the joint venture, where Trip.com Group will be the majority shareholder, will operate globally as TripAdvisor China.
It is not clear why Tripadvisor was also included in the list of banned apps.
However, some media reports linked the action on Tripadvisor to the US administration’s ongoing exercise to put restrictions on TikTok which is owned by China-based Bytedance.
A judge in the US on Monday granted a preliminary injunction barring the US Commerce Department from putting restrictions that it had planned to impose on TikTok.
The order came in response to challenge to the Donald Trump administration’s executive order on August 6 that would have barred US companies from doing transactions with the Chinese parent company of TikTok.
IANS