Apple pulls WhatsApp and Threads from App Store on Beijing's orders
HONG KONG (AP) — Apple said it had removed Meta’s WhatsApp messaging app and its Threads social media app from the App Store in China to comply with orders from Chinese authorities.
The apps were removed from the store on Friday after Chinese officials cited unspecified national security concerns.
Their removal comes amid elevated tensions between the U.S. and China over trade, technology and national security.
The U.S. has threatened to ban TikTok over national security concerns. But while TikTok, owned by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, is used by millions in the U.S., apps like WhatsApp and Threads are not commonly used in China.
Instead, the messaging app WeChat, owned by Chinese company Tencent, reigns supreme.
Other Meta apps, including Facebook, Instagram and Messenger remained available for download, although use of such foreign apps is blocked in China due to its “Great Firewall” network of filters that restrict use of foreign websites such as Google and Facebook.
Related articles
'The Apprentice,' about a young Donald Trump, premieres in Cannes
CANNES, France (AP) — While Donald Trump’s hush money trial entered its sixth week in New York, an o2024-05-21Troops fired on Kent State students in 1970. Survivors see echoes in today's campus protests
KENT, Ohio (AP) — Dean Kahler flung himself to the ground and covered his head when the bullets star2024-05-21Nippon Steel delays closing of acquisition of US Steel until late this year after US DOJ request
TOKYO (AP) — Nippon Steel said Friday it has postponed the expected closing of its $14.1 billion tak2024-05-21Bomb kills 5 people, including children, at a refugee camp in eastern Congo
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A bomb at a refugee camp in eastern Congo has killed at least 5 people, includ2024-05-21Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to Maryland ban on rifles known as assault weapons
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday declined, for now, to hear a challenge to a Maryland l2024-05-21China highway collapse: Vice Premier in Guangdong to oversee rescue efforts
BEIJING (AP) — China has sent a vice premier to oversee recovery efforts and urged better safety mea2024-05-21
atest comment