An activation control apparatus stores, in a memory, first association information that associates, for each one of a plurality of applications, application identification information for identifying an application with terminal identification information for identifying a communication terminal permitted to debug the application. In response to an activation request for activating a first application from a first communication terminal, the activation control apparatus determines whether the first communication terminal is provided with a debugger. When the first communication terminal is provided with a debugger, the activation control apparatus further determines whether the first communication terminal is permitted to debug the first application using the first association information, and rejects the activation request when the first communication terminal is not permitted to debug the application. When the first communication terminal is not provided with a debugger, the activation control apparatus accepts the activation request.