Apple said it complied with orders from the Chinese government to remove the Meta-owned WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China. Apple also removed Telegram and Signal from China.
The New York Times similarly wrote that “a person briefed on the situation said the Chinese government had found content on WhatsApp and Threads about China’s president, Xi Jinping, that was inflammatory and violated the country’s cybersecurity laws. The specifics of what was in the content was unclear, the person said.”
“These apps and many foreign apps are normally blocked on Chinese networks by the ‘Great Firewall’—the country’s extensive cybersystem of censorship—and can only be used with a virtual private network or other proxy tools,” Reuters wrote.
“For years, Apple has bowed to Beijing’s demands that it block an array of apps, including newspapers, VPNs, and encrypted messaging services,” The New York Times noted yesterday.
This just in - companies that want to continue doing business in country must follow country’s laws. More at 10.
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While also having TikTok banned in China 😂
If the US bans Tiktok, expect China to retalliate against Apple. China is Apple’s most important market.
…they enjoy the profits from making Apple products and they do have a legal system over there, so your suggestions is dubious at best.
I don’t think they’d actually respond. Also TikTok is only partially Chinese owned.
That said the US would probably have to make a strong case TikTok is being used to convey Chinese propaganda in a way that’s irrevocable or uncontrollable.
If only the phone operating system allowed you to load applications from somewhere other than the official app store. Someone should make a phone that does that.
Yes, but play that tape forward as someone living in China. Lets pretend you wanted to use Signal
Etc etc.
There a ways to pull it off, but China does not make it easy. Android is over 80% of phone sales in China. Censoring comms on Android is the state’s priority.
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