Apple on Friday announced it would remove Mehta-owned apps WhatsApp and Threads from China’s app store on government orders, potentially escalating the technology war between the US and China.
The iPhone maker said China’s internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration, ordered it to remove WhatsApp and Threads from its app stores, citing national security concerns. Apple said it complied because “we are obligated to abide by the laws of the countries in which we operate, even if we disagree.”
A Meta spokesperson referred Apple for comment. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Apple removed the app.
Officials briefed on the situation said the Chinese government had discovered content on WhatsApp and threads about Chinese President Xi Jinping that was inflammatory and in violation of cybersecurity laws. The details of the content are unknown.
Several other global messaging apps, including U.S.-based Signal and Dubai-based Telegram, were also removed from Apple’s App Store in China on Friday, according to Appfigures, a market research firm that analyzes digital information. economy. Signal did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Telegram did not respond to a request for comment.
The move puts Apple and Meta in an escalating technology battle between the U.S. and China. In the United States, the House of Representatives was preparing to vote as early as this weekend on a bill that would force Chinese internet company ByteDance to sell the popular video app TikTok or ban it from selling it in the United States. US lawmakers have said TikTok poses a national security threat due to its ties to China. Chinese authorities have condemned the move to force a sale of TikTok.
The White House recently moved to restrict the Chinese government’s access to advanced technologies that could be used in war, as well as expand limits on the amount of U.S. dollars used to finance the development of such technologies within China’s borders. We are working. In response, the Chinese government has banned the sale of memory chips by U.S. chipmaker Micron and is moving to curb sales of other U.S. chip companies.
For years, China has used an elaborate system called the Great Firewall to block U.S. websites, including Facebook and Instagram. WhatsApp, one of the world’s most popular messaging services, and Threads, an X-like app for digital conversations, were allowed in app stores but are not widely used in China. It was. These apps dwarfed Chinese-made apps such as WeChat, which is owned by Chinese internet company Tencent.
Still, users in China were able to download WhatsApp and use it with the help of a virtual private network (VPN). VPNs are used to set up a secure web connection and view content that is prohibited within China.
According to Appfigures, WhatsApp has been downloaded 15 million times on iPhone in China since 2017, and Threads has been downloaded 470,000 times.
Apple is more vulnerable than most companies to rising tensions between the United States and China. By leveraging China’s vast labor and manufacturing power to make iPhones and sell the devices to the country’s growing middle class, the company has become one of the world’s most valuable publicly traded companies. China now accounts for about one-fifth of Apple’s annual sales, which totaled more than $68 billion last year.
For years, Apple has capitulated to demands from the Chinese government to block a range of apps, including newspapers, VPNs and encrypted messaging services. It also built a data center in the country to store Chinese citizens’ iCloud information, including personal contacts, photos, and emails.
As U.S.-China relations deteriorated, Apple began diversifying its supply chain and began assembling iPhones, AirPods, and Apple Watches in India and Vietnam.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is in Asia this week, visiting suppliers in Vietnam and speaking with Indonesia’s president about building a manufacturing plant there.
For Meta, the impact will likely be less immediate, as many of its apps are already banned in China. Still, Meta makes money from Chinese companies like Temu and Shein, which pay to advertise on Instagram and Facebook.
Meta and Apple have long had a rocky corporate relationship. Apple introduced greater limits on the types of tracking companies can perform across their devices, significantly limiting Meta’s ability to gain insight into user behavior for its digital advertising business. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly criticized Apple for what he felt were too strict privacy guidelines.
The movement against TikTok has gained momentum in recent days in the United States, with House Speaker Mike Johnson announcing a measure to force ByteDance to sell the app, along with other bills related to foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. I have summarized.
House members are scheduled to vote on the package of bills on Saturday. If the package passes, the measures could be sent to the Senate as a single bill for an immediate vote. President Biden has said he will sign the TikTok bill into law once it reaches his desk.
