Apple pulls WhatsApp, Threads from China app store after Beijing order
Apple, said on Friday it had removed Meta Platforms’, WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China after being ordered to do so by the Chinese government, which cited national security concerns.
Telegram and Signal, two popular foreign messaging apps, were recently removed from app stores, according to reports from app tracking firms Qimai and AppMagic. This removal, along with the elimination of two other apps earlier, suggests a tightening stance by China’s central government towards foreign online messaging services that operate independently. It also indicates less flexibility for Apple within China’s regulatory environment.
Despite these removals, apps under Meta, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, remained accessible for download as per Reuters’ checks on Friday. Several other Western-developed apps, including YouTube and X, also remained available.
The exact reasons for the removal of WhatsApp and Threads, and whether they posed security risks according to Chinese authorities, were not immediately clear.
In response to inquiries, Apple stated via email that the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered the removal of these apps due to national security concerns. The statement emphasized Apple’s commitment to compliance with local laws in the regions where it operates, even if there are disagreements.
Meta declined to comment on the matter and directed inquiries to Apple.
Apple did not respond to requests for comment regarding Signal and Telegram, and representatives from both Signal and Telegram also did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Similarly, the Cyberspace Administration of China did not provide an immediate response to inquiries.
It’s worth noting that none of the four apps mentioned—Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, and Threads—are widely utilized in China, where Tencent’s WeChat dominates the messaging service landscape.
Typically, these foreign apps, along with many others, are blocked on Chinese networks by the “Great Firewall,” necessitating the use of virtual private networks or proxy tools to access them. However, they remain available in Hong Kong and Macau, China’s two special administrative regions.
Some experts speculate that the government’s directive regarding WhatsApp and Threads may be linked to a regulation introduced in August, mandating that all apps available in China register with the government to avoid potential removal. The deadline for compliance was the end of March, with the regulations taking effect on April 1st.
Apple has a history of removing apps from its China App Store. In 2017, The New York Times news app was removed due to alleged violations of local regulations, coinciding with increased news censorship in China. The app remains unavailable on Apple’s China App Store. Additionally, last year, Apple removed several apps similar to ChatGPT when Beijing was formulating local regulations on generative artificial intelligence (AI) services.
The initial report on the removal of WhatsApp and Threads from the China App Store was published by The Wall Street Journal.
