Chinese authorities ordered Apple to remove WhatsApp and Threads from the Chinese App Store
Kyiv • UNN
Apple has removed its WhatsApp and Threads messaging apps from the Chinese App Store after being ordered to do so by the Chinese authorities.
Apple is withdrawing WhatsApp and Threads by Meta from its app shop in China at the behest of the Chinese government, reports The Wall Street Journal, reports UNN.
Details
Apple has removed WhatsApp and Threads from the Chinese App Store at the request of the Chinese authorities. Both applications have been unavailable in China since Friday, March 19.
The China Internet Regulator (CAC) and the Ministry of Industry and Technology, which controls the Internet in China, have not yet commented on the decision to the press.
For reference
The country closely monitors its media and Internet, subject to strict rules that sometimes suffer from certain problems. Content that presents government policy in a bad light is censored.
The Chinese government has blocked WhatsApp since 2017 and its parent company Meta since 2009. Other Western media platforms, including Gmail, YouTube, Snapchat, and Spotify, have also been censored in China. Some users are finding ways to access these platforms through virtual private networks, but being removed from the app store may prevent this.
China also has strong competitors on its territory with Western social networks and websites. WhatsApp has been largely replaced by WeChat, a social network for messaging, online payments, shopping, and booking. The app is on almost all phones in the country of one and a half billion people.
Recall
U.S. President Joe Biden called China "xenophobic" and said that it has real economic problems. The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded that it is still unclear whether these words "refer to China or the United States itself.
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