The latest victim in a slew of Chinese attempts to censor international tech brands due to failure to comply with local laws is the Microsoft-owned (MSFT  ) Skype, which has now been unavailable for a month in the region on popular forums such as the Apple store (APPL  ).

"We have been notified by the Ministry of Public Security that a number of voiceover internet protocol apps do not comply with local law. Therefore these apps have been removed from the app store in China," an Apple spokeswoman said on Tuesday in an emailed statement. "These apps remain available in all other markets where they do business."

Part of the reason why Skype was removed has to do with the encryption protocols it entails, which made it difficult for Chinese authorities to monitor the activities of citizens. Other companies that have removed Skype from their apps include Huawei (SHE: 002502) and Xiaomi, both popular tech companies in China.

The sudden removal resulted in a slew of complaints from users pouring out their concerns in online message boards and forums. These complaints have been building up since October, when the ban was first imposed.

Previously, WhatsApp, the instant messaging service, had also fallen prey to a similar kind of censorship, more specifically rooted in the inability of the app to require inputting a real name to function or sign up. China also heavily censured VPNs that could be used to avoid censorship and render communications private.

What's different about this particular case, however, is the notion that the Skype ban does not seem to be related to any of the Communist Party's actual events or campaign processes, since its national congress, held from 18 to 24 October of this year, has ended. Thus, the disappearance of the app from certain forums at this time seems solely related to a general attempt to abide with China's more stringent privacy laws.

It is because of this reason that little can be said currently about whether this particular instance will have long term impacts for not only Microsoft's position in China, but also the tech sector in general, which has slowly been perforating every sphere of the globe. Until Skype is able to fix the relevant inconsistencies with China's policy, companies like Apple and Amazon (AMZN  ) will continue to remove any particularly controversial apps out of fear for themselves facing any similar restrictions. This is in keeping with Apple's tendency to give in to Chinese censorship, which was reflected in its deletion of more than 60 apps off the App store in August.

Microsoft Corporation shares were trading at $83.62 per share on Tuesday morning, up $1.09 (+1.32%). Year-to-date, MSFT has gained 37.57%, versus a 17.93% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.