China has banned WhatsApp, Signal, Threads, and Telegram from the iPhone App Store. wall street journal Apple says it had to comply with state censorship demands.
“The Cyberspace Administration of China has ordered these apps to be removed from China’s storefronts based on national security concerns,” Apple said in a statement to the magazine. “We are obligated to abide by the laws of the countries in which we operate, even if we disagree with them.”
Still, other popular foreign apps are still available, including Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Google’s YouTube, and Elon Musk’s X. At this time, it is unclear why China banned WhatsApp, Threads and other apps due to security concerns. However, this is not the first time the country has banned an app without any reason.
One possibility for China’s ban on WhatsApp and other apps is that the company failed to comply with new rules requiring all apps available in China to register with the government. While this ban may come as some surprise to Westerners, these apps are not widely used in the country.
First, Chinese networks are already blocked by the “Great Firewall”, so you have to use virtual private networks or other tools, and the main messaging app used in the country is WeChat. When it comes to social media, Weibo is the most popular app in the region.
Apple has banned several apps from China’s App Store over the years in response to government ban requests. Cupertino made the strange choice of following the country responsible for manufacturing most products and the second most profitable region after America.
For example, the company first restricted AirDrop in the region after protesters sent information against the government via AirDrop. Later, the company introduced his AirDrop restrictions for all users worldwide as a means to avoid spam.
BGR We will update this article if we hear from Meta, Telegram, and Signal about why their apps were banned in China.
