Apple has withdrawn WhatsApp, an end-to-end encrypted messaging application owned by Meta, from its App Store in China following directives from the government, which cited national security concerns, according to Reuters.
Meta’s newer text-based social network, Threads, was also removed for similar reasons. Apple communicated this in a statement to Reuters, stating that the Cyberspace Administration of China mandated the removals.
Meta acknowledged to TechCrunch that both WhatsApp and Threads are no longer accessible on Apple’s App Store in China, though they provided no further details, directing inquiries back to Apple.
Efforts to obtain a comment from Apple were still unanswered at the time of reporting.
Further, Reuters has reported that two other messaging apps, Signal and Telegram, have also been removed from the App Store in China. This information is supported by data from app tracking firms Qimai and AppMagic.
Although not confirmed by Apple, the website AppleCensorship, which monitors App Store removals, has noted that Signal and Telegram have been removed from Apple’s mainland China App Store.
In response to inquiries about the Reuters report, Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal, confirmed to TechCrunch that Signal had been blocked in China by the country’s Great Firewall.
She noted that while the app was previously available, its functionality was restricted as users in China could neither register nor send messages.
She suggested that the app’s removal from the App Store did not significantly impact its usability in China due to these restrictions. Interestingly, a report from TechCrunch in 2021 noted that Signal was fully functional in China at that time, even without a VPN, indicating a tightening of restrictions by state censors on encrypted messaging applications since then.
