China just made it even harder for people in the country to access WhatsApp and Threads
China just made it even harder for people in the country to access WhatsApp and Threads
The Chinese government made Apple remove two apps – just as US considers the same thing for TikTok.
- Apple has removed WhatsApp and Threads from its Chinese app store following a government order.
- WhatsApp has been blocked in China since 2017 and its parent company Meta since 2009.
- Other Western platforms like Gmail, YouTube, Snap, and Spotify have also been censored in China.
Apple removed WhatsApp and Threads from its app store in China after being told to do so by the Chinese government, according to the Wall Street Journal.
China's top internet regulator asked Apple to remove the two apps because of national security concerns.
I think Europe and America generally need to ban TikTok, not because of national security concerns, but because of national mental health concerns.
Change my mind.
They need to ban all corporate social media, not just TikTok.
The whole conversation around banning TikTok is pretty silly and hypocritical. Meta spies on even more Americans than TikTok does, and just as egregiously. Additionally, Meta is willing to sell much of that data to anyone, including China. So even if the US bans TikTok, all that changes is that now China has to pay more money to access the same information as before. By banning one app and not another, it just becomes painfully obvious that it's corporate protectionism all in the name of national security, and how many times have we seen other ridiculous laws passed using that as an excuse? E.g. the joke that is TSA, Patriot act and all of its facsimiles, DEA, etc.
Your mind does not need changing. You are correct.
For both reasons. The national security concerns are real. Try taking the app apart with some standard tools and you'll quickly discover that it shares more in common with malware than with any other social media applications.
Then there's the rampant misinformation from the Chinese state, the fact that non-Chinese employees of Bytedance do not have any access to any of TikTok's underlying tech (they'll fly in technicians from China instead of letting any outsider look at anything), the enormous and very telling difference between TikTok for the world and the Chinese alternative, etc. pp.
Yes ban TikTok, Instagram and YouTube shorts
Surprised that it was allowed in the Chinese app store at all, since it's completely blocked and unusable without an "illegal" VPN from years and years ago
Btw shooting at their own feet, as Chinese companies don't have tools to interact with western customers.
The Chinese logic is that they have enough domestic market to isolate themselves and shield from international pressure, economical or political. It's been working for them since their homegrown platforms like wechat and weibo are big enough to sustain themselves.
They want to ban tiktok so they can control the narrative. Facebook and Instagram push the us narrative. So either ban them all or none of them. I trust China as much as I trust the US which is not at all.
Yes, don't trust any of those you mentioned, but I disagree with Meta doing the US' bidding.
Putin has absolutely no problem pushing his disinformation campaign through fb for example.Zuckerberg and Musk only care about money, while TikTok is directly controlled by the Chinese government.
That being said, I wouldn't mind Meta products and xitter being banned at all.
Honestly good for them.
You do realize that the alternatives mean surveillance and censorship by the CCP, don't you?
Right but maybe their people should do something about that. I think we could all benefit from less Meta no matter the circumstance.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Apple removed WhatsApp and Threads from its app store in China after being told to do so by the Chinese government, according to the Wall Street Journal.
China's top internet regulator asked Apple to remove the two apps because of national security concerns.
Some users find ways to access these platforms through virtual private networks, but removal from the app store may prevent this.
CEO Tim Cook visited the country last month to open a new store in Shanghai and rub elbows with top policymakers.
And in January, Chinese chipmakers drew up plans to create chip production lines to supply processors to local smartphone makers.
China's direction to Apple comes as US policymakers debate a ban on TikTok, the popular Chinese app.
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