WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram among apps cut from iPhone app store to comply with censorship demandChina ordered
China ordered Apple to remove some of the world’s most popular chat messaging apps from its app store in the country, the latest example of censorship demands on the iPhone seller in the company’s second-biggest market.
WhatsApp and Threads as well as messaging platforms Signal and Telegram were taken off the Chinese App Store Friday. Apple said it was told to remove certain apps because of national security concerns, without specifying which.
These messaging apps, which allow users to exchange messages and share files individually and in large groups, combined have around three billion users globally. They can only be accessed in China through virtual private networks that take users outside China’s Great Firewall, but are still commonly used.
Beijing has often viewed such platforms with caution, concerned that these apps could be used by its citizens to spread negative content and cause social unrest. Much of the news China censors at home often makes it beyond the Great Firewall through such channels.
The Cyberspace Administration of China asked Apple to remove WhatsApp and Threads from the App Store because both contain political content that includes problematic mentions of the Chinese president, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Apple spokesperson said that wasn’t part of the reasoning.
The move shrinks the number of foreign chat apps Chinese internet users can use to commun…
Read more@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
How important is it for people to have access to uncensored information, even if it challenges the views of their government?
@9LNV6B32wks2W
It is the duty of the media to act as the 4th member of the checks and balances in America. Uncensored accountability is paramount to a Free Press.
@9LNTMGGRepublican2wks2W
It is very important for citizens of the U.S.A to know what is going on in the world without it being sugarcoated.
it is important for citizens to have access to all sides of the story in order to make informed devotions and hold their leaders accountable
@9LNT9FGRepublican2wks2W
If China wants to take certain apps down then go ahead I have no comment.
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
Do you believe a government should have the power to remove apps from the public's access for reasons of national security?
No. This is the slippery slope we're on if we ban TikTok.
@9LNKKYT 2wks2W
If it can be proven with sold reasonable evidence that an app poses a threat of national security, then yes, I do think apps should be removed from public access.
@9LNKDLK2wks2W
I think it’s up to the government. We don’t have power like the.
@9LNK8V52wks2W
Honestly? I believe it would depend on the specific situation, but more or less no? I'm unsure.
China is the only country that has institutionalized large-scale IP theft under its joint venture system, which is fundamentally abusive. Meanwhile, the CCP promotes "free trade" and demands full access to US/EU markets. It's time we impose the same restrictions on Chinese companies that they apply to ours.
US requires the same of TikTok and other Chinese companies operating in its country.
Ditto for most of the west - who have used fears of data processing in China as the reason for the mandated carve outs.
For a time during the pandemic Signal Messenger was available on the Chinese Apple App Store. Finally, it was possible to speak and text with people in China uncensored.
Unfortunately that was killed off around the end of 2021.
The CCP are paranoid about their public having unmonitored communications. In order to get rid of the CCP and nurture a rise against them from the Chinese public in China, it’s going to take us accepting that Apple are going to have to gradually relocate manufacturing to another country and service might not be possible there at some point. China’s going to get worse before it gets better.
It’s a crazy collaboration of western capitalism and eastern authoritarianism that results in the largest population on earth effectively existing in an artificial and sealed-off greenhouse-like society. You can look in from the outside but it’s a different environment entirely.
It’s like the iron curtain but instead of iron it’s plexiglas.
Remember when the West refused to share Covid vaccine IP ( in a global heath emergency) as signed up to in their own WTO Trips agreement. And demanded by the global South.
Free markets isn’t it.
@SenateSeatDomDemocrat2wks2W
It really is astonishing how much we allow China free trade whilst they block access to their own market or dump cheap government subsidised goods into ours.
When in the West did we become so naive?
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
If you had to choose between safety and free access to information, which would you prioritize and why?
@9LNMPD72wks2W
Safety, being safe and secure is alway important at all times.
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