China is becoming increasingly well known for its apps market. Indeed, the country's technology giants are behind some of the world's so-called super apps, including WeChat, which was created by Tencent in 2011, and Ant Group's Alipay.Many domestic mobile apps also have huge usage figures even though they are unknown outside of the Chinese market. Popular western apps are less present here because of the government's strict censorship control.However, it seems that the proliferation of local apps is also giving the Chinese government plenty of headaches.Figure 1:Naughty, naughty: China's booming app ecosystem is a mixed bag – which is why the authorities are stepping in.(Source: Jorick Jing on Unsplash)Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology, has now outlined measures to tackle some of the problems that are taking root and regulate the huge market.According to Reuters, the minister said at a briefing in Beijing that China will aim to improve detection technologies to find "loopholes" in information protection."Those apps that refuse to accept rectification must be resolutely removed," he said."On the supervision side, we must also improve our technical equipment capabilities ... we must be able to detect loopholes in information protection, so that the masses can use [apps] with confidence."Cranking up the crackdownAs Reuters noted, China's regulators have recently been cracking down on the country's technology giants, criticizing and punishing them on areas ranging from anti-competitive behavior to violations of consumer rights.Interested in Asia? Check out our dedicated Asia content channel here on Light Reading.As previously reported by Light Reading, the drums have been beating against China's tech giants for some time, and they are now the targets of an antitrust campaign or, as officials describe it, "preventing the disorderly expansion of capital."It's not just about Alibaba and Ant, but China's entire platform economy.Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, collectively known as BAT, have extended their reach well beyond their original businesses, as have newer players like Bytedance, the $180 billion unicorn behind TikTok.Related posts:In China, AI and cloud boost Baidu revenues by 52%China regulators target Alibaba as Jack Ma goes missingFacing down the China 5G challenge: Don't panicChina 5G still immature, says think tank— Anne Morris, contributing editor, special to Light Reading