Apple said it removed Meta-owned apps WhatsApp and Threads from its app store in China on Friday by government order, potentially escalating the technology war between the United States and China.
The iPhone maker said China's internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration, ordered the removal of WhatsApp and Threads from its app store over national security concerns. Apple said it complied because “we are required to follow the laws of the countries where we operate, even when we disagree.”
A Meta spokesperson directed requests for comment to Apple. The Wall Street Journal tech/apple-removes-whatsapp-threads-from-china-app-store-on-government-orders-a0c02100?mod=hp_lead_pos10″ title=”” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>previously reported The removal of applications by Apple.
A person briefed on the situation said the Chinese government had found content on WhatsApp and Threads about Chinese President Xi Jinping that was inflammatory and violated the country's cybersecurity laws. Details of what was in the contents were unclear, the person said.
An Apple spokesperson denied that the Chinese government ordered the apps removed due to WhatsApp and Thread's inflammatory content about Xi.
Several other global messaging apps were also removed from Apple's App Store in China on Friday, including US-based Signal and Dubai-based Telegram, according to Appfigures, a market research firm that analyzes the market. digital. economy. Signal did not immediately comment and Telegram did not respond to a request for comment.
The actions thrust Apple and Meta into an intensifying fight over technology between the United States and China. In the United States, the House of Representatives was preparing to vote this weekend on a bill that would force Chinese internet company ByteDance to sell its popular video app TikTok or ban it in the United States. US lawmakers have said TikTok poses a national security threat because of its ties to China. Chinese officials have condemned the attempt to force the sale of TikTok.
The White House has also recently worked to restrict Beijing's access to advanced technologies that could be used in war, as well as to extend restrictions on US dollars used to finance the development of such technologies within Chinese borders. Beijing responded by banning memory chips from U.S. chipmaker Micron and taking steps to curb sales from other U.S. chip companies.
China has long blocked American websites, including facebook and instagram, using an elaborate system called the Great Firewall. While WhatsApp, one of the world's most popular messaging services, and Threads, an x-like app for digital conversations, were allowed in app stores, they were not widely used in China. The apps were overshadowed by Chinese ones like WeChat, owned by Chinese internet company Tencent.
Still, Chinese users were able to download WhatsApp and use it with the help of a virtual private network, or VPN, which is used to set up secure web connections and view prohibited content within China.
WhatsApp has been downloaded 15 million times on iPhones in China since 2017, while Threads has been downloaded 470,000 times, according to Appfigures.
Apple has been more vulnerable than most companies to rising tensions between the United States and China. It became one of the world's most valuable public companies by tapping into China's huge workforce and manufacturing muscle to build its iPhones and then sell the devices to the country's growing middle class. China now accounts for about a fifth of Apple's annual sales, more than $68 billion last year.
For years, Apple has bowed to Beijing's demands to block a number of apps, including newspapers, VPNs and encrypted messaging services. It also built a data center in the country to house Chinese citizens' iCloud information, including personal contacts, photos and email.
As the relationship between the United States and China deteriorated, Apple began diversifying its supply chain and began assembling iPhones, AirPods, and Apple Watches in India and Vietnam.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was in Asia this week, where he visited suppliers in Vietnam and spoke with the president of Indonesia about building a manufacturing plant there.
For Meta, the consequences will likely be less direct, given that many of its apps were already banned in China. Still, Meta makes money from Chinese companies like Temu and Shein, which pay to place ads on instagram and facebook.
Meta and Apple have long had an uneasy corporate relationship. Apple has introduced greater restrictions on the types of tracking companies can perform on its devices, severely restricting Meta's ability to obtain information about user behavior for its digital advertising business. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has publicly criticized what he considers Apple's overly restrictive privacy guidelines.
In the United States, measures against TikTok have gained momentum in recent days, with House Speaker Mike Johnson introducing a measure to force ByteDance to sell the app along with other foreign aid bills for Ukraine , Israel and Taiwan.
House lawmakers are expected to vote Saturday on the legislation package. If the package passes, the measures will be sent as a single bill to the Senate, which could vote soon after. President Biden has said he would sign the TikTok legislation if it reaches his desk.
