Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Biden’s internet-for-all program needs Musk’s help

Election 2024 live updates: Trump holds rallies in Wisconsin, Michigan during court break

The tech billionaires who helped ban TikTok want to write AI rules for Trump

A murder plot that cannot be ignored: India must come clean at last

How to confront antisemitism, deal with protests — and respect free speech

Is student loan debt an emergency? Take our quiz.

Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away

I learned to heal my sadness by cradling dying chickens 

Brave Little Hunter is free: Baby orca escapes lagoon for open seas

Carolyn Hax: Too late to accept a decade-old apology, accidentally left unread?

I coach my son’s sports team. Why is he so disrespectful during practice?

Miss Manners: How to decline donation requests at checkout

Riding the rails with hobos and crust punks

In photos: Violence erupts at campuses as activists and counterprotesters clash

Drone video shows trapped baby orca in B.C. lagoon

France shows its anger on May Day ahead of Paris Olympics

One photo, one night in Rafah

Is Bougainville the next battleground between China and the U.S.?

Use these 6 points to say no to a college you and your kid can’t afford

How this new rule protects retirement savers from costly advice

Borrowers, don’t miss this important student loan forgiveness deadline

UnitedHealth grew very big. Now, some lawmakers want to chop it down.

The new face of flooding

How celebrity tequilas are changing the very nature of tequila

How to make the most of Passport DC’s free embassy tours

Where to watch the Kentucky Derby in D.C.

Chance to move over .500 slips away as Nats lose to reigning champs

Adaptive adventures are making national parks more inclusive

Man arrested at Yellowstone for allegedly kicking bison while drunk

Southwest passengers now get a $75 voucher for big flight disruptions

Biden is aiming increasingly personal and sarcastic jabs at Trump

Eric Adams’s condescending dismissal of the ‘children’ at Columbia

Trump hush money trial live updates: Stormy Daniels’s lawyer testifies

Big Tech news and how to take control of your data and devices

See more coverage in your recommendations

Technology

Tips delivered to your inbox twice weekly

The Tech Friend newsletter

Business and Tech alerts

Hector Retamal

Apple has removed several widely used communications platforms from its app store in China at the Chinese government’s demand, amid anger in Beijing over efforts in Washington that could result in a TikTok ban in the United States.

The move against popular U.S. messaging apps, including WhatsApp and Threads, comes days after Congress <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/19/tiktok-ban-bill-congress-foreign-aid-vote/" target=_blank>resurrected a bill</a> to force the popular video app to be banned or sold in the United States — timing that suggests the action may be in retaliation against Washington. On both sides, authorities assert that any benefits the apps bring consumers are outweighed by considerations of national security.

The iPhone maker confirmed Friday that the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet regulator, ordered the removal of the apps citing national security concerns. Although Apple didn’t specify which apps it removed, analytics company Appfigures said WhatsApp, Threads, Signal and Telegram are no longer in the app store. Meta, which owns WhatsApp and Threads, referred a request for comment to Apple.

“We are obligated to follow the laws in the countries where we operate, even when we disagree,” Apple said in a statement.

The incident comes as the U.S. government attempts to reduce the use of China-made technologies in the United States, citing security reasons — efforts that may provoke financial costs to U.S. companies, as Beijing launches tit-for-tat crackdowns. With four times as many consumers as the United States, China is one of the largest sources of revenue for many U.S. tech companies, including Apple.

The Chinese embassy declined to say whether the WhatsApp removal order was retaliation for U.S. policy or was prompted by something else. Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in a statement that while foreign investors were welcome, they must abide by China’s laws and regulations to maintain an “orderly” internet.

Industry analysts said the move appeared to be a shot across the bow from Beijing, even as many in China would still find ways to use the apps. China’s government firewall already blocks access to WhatsApp, but many people are able to circumvent the block through virtual private networks, or VPNs. Now, the apps won’t be available for new downloads for users with China-registered iPhones.

“Removal of WhatsApp from the App Store is mostly symbolic, since WhatsApp is already banned in China,” said Dan Wang, a visiting scholar at the Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center. “Beijing’s playbook since Trump’s trade war is to offer an in-kind reply to every American provocation, and it might well do more if the U.S. moves ahead with a TikTok ban.”

U.S. messaging apps like WhatsApp have long been in the crosshairs of China’s web regulators. The apps are widely used in China by political dissidents to circulate criticisms of the Chinese government and to organize protests — the kinds of messages that would be censored if sent on Chinese messaging apps like WeChat. Chinese officials have long asserted that this dissent is not 100 percent grass roots, but also fanned by foreign governments with the aim of weakening China’s government, a claim that is hard to prove or disprove.

Chinese consumers are limited by tight regulations concerning political expression, preventing opposition to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Signal and WhatsApp both feature end-to-end encryption, which prevents communications companies or government censors from reading messages unless they have access to the user’s device.

It appears that residents of China who had already downloaded WhatsApp and have a VPN can continue using that setup, said Paul Triolo, technology policy lead at Washington-based consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group. Many Chinese professionals use WhatsApp to help conduct business outside China, Triolo said.

“Beijing has sporadically targeted VPN use in China but has not clamped down completely on VPN use, which would be a much more serious issue for Chinese users than an app store removal,” he said.

China has unusual leverage over Apple’s decisions because it is a major market for Apple products, and the company also relies on manufacturing on the mainland. In Apple’s 2023 annual report, the Greater China region accounted for 19 percent of the company’s global net sales, vs. 42 percent from the Americas and 25 percent from Europe. In a bid to lessen its manufacturing dependence on China, Apple has been expanding production elsewhere, including Vietnam and India.

There has been growing momentum in recent months in Washington to ban TikTok, with the House voting to approve legislation that would impose a ban if TikTok cannot find new ownership on short notice, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/joe-biden-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">President Biden</a> saying he would sign it into law if it came to his desk.

The Cyberspace Administration of China did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

<i>Joseph Menn and Lyric Li contributed to this report.</i>

Emory University, b.a.

Georgetown University, masters in public policy

Aaron Gregg is a business reporter for the Washington Post.

Aaron Gregg

Eva Dou is a Washington-based reporter covering technology policy for the Washington Post. A Detroit native, she was previously China business reporter for the Post. 

Eva Dou

Apple pulls WhatsApp, Threads and Signal from app store in China

the-washington-post

FILES-CHINA-APPLE-META-ECONOMY-COMPUTERS

Contributor

AFP/Getty Images

Help Desk

Artificial Intelligence

Internet Culture

Space

Tech Policy

Tech

washpost

prism://prism.query/two-sites,/technology,/politics/powerpost/the-technology-202?limit=20

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/business&limit=20

Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend.

Business

The source for business news and analysis. Covering economic policy, business policy, financial news, economic issues, stock market data, local business, technology and more.

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/world/&limit=20

World

The Washington Post World section provides information and analysis of breaking world news stories. In addition to our world news and video, Post World News offers discussions and blogs on major international news and economic issues.