Apple removes WhatsApp, Threads from China app store on government order

Apple announced on Friday that it had removed the government-mandated apps WhatsApp and Threads, which are owned by Meta, from the Chinese app store. This move might heighten the ongoing tech rivalry between China and the United States. The tech behemoth claims that due of worries about national security, WhatsApp and Threads were taken down from China’s app store by the Cyberspace Administration, the country’s internet regulator.

Some reports claim that the Chinese government discovered stuff about Xi Jinping on WhatsApp and Threads that was provocative and in violation of the nation’s cybersecurity regulations. Along with WhatsApp and Threads, a number of other messaging applications, including Signal and Telegram, were taken down from China’s Apple App Store on Friday. Apple has been caving into Beijing’s requests for years now to prohibit a wide range of apps, including VPNs, encrypted chat services, and newspapers.

These steps draggs Apple and Meta into an increasingly heated competition between China and the United States over technology. As early as this weekend, the US House of Representatives is set to vote on a bill that would compel the Chinese internet company ByteDance to either sell its well-known video app TikTok or face it being outlawed in the US. US politicians claim that TikTok’s connections to China make it a threat to national security. Officials from China have denounced the attempt to persuade a TikTok sale.

China has long used a complex system known as the Great Firewall to block American websites, including Facebook and Instagram. Chinese ones like WeChat, which is owned by the Chinese internet behemoth Tencent overshadowed the apps. 

The anti-TickTok movements in the US have gotten stronger in recent days. In fact, if legislation pertaining to TikTok makes it to President Biden’s desk, he has stated that he would sign it into law.

The growing hostility between the United States and China makes Apple more susceptible than most technology companies. Ever since the two nations’ relationship began to deteriorate, Apple has started to diversify its supply chain, building Apple Watches, AirPods, and iPhones in Vietnam and India.