Written by Josh Yeh and Mirinmay Day
(Reuters) – Apple said on Friday it has removed Metaplatforms' WhatsApp and Threads from China's App Store following orders from the Chinese government, citing national security concerns.
Two other foreign messaging apps, Telegram and Signal, were also removed from stores on Friday, according to app tracking companies Qimai and AppMagic.
The removal of the four apps signals growing intolerance toward at least some foreign online messaging services that are outside the control of China's central government. This also suggests that Apple's leeway in China is decreasing.
However, a Reuters investigation on Friday said other meta-apps, including Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, remain available for download. Many other popular apps developed by Western companies, such as YouTube and X, were also available.
It was not immediately clear how WhatsApp or Threads raised security concerns for Chinese authorities.
“The Cyberspace Administration of China has ordered the removal of these apps from Chinese store shelves based on national security concerns,” Apple said in an emailed statement.
“We are obligated to abide by the laws of the countries in which we operate, even if we disagree,” the statement said.
Mehta declined to comment and referred inquiries to Apple.
Apple did not respond to requests for comment on Signal and Telegram. Representatives for both companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Cyberspace Administration of China also did not respond to a request for comment.
None of the four apps are widely used in China, where Tencent's WeChat is by far the dominant service.
These and many foreign apps are typically blocked on Chinese networks by China's extensive censorship cybersystem, the Great Firewall, and can only be used with virtual private networks or other proxy tools.
The four apps remain available in Hong Kong and Macau, two special administrative regions of China.
Some experts in China's tech industry say the government's orders on WhatsApp and Threads may be related to new rules last August that require all apps available in China to be registered with the government. Yes, or risk being removed.
The deadline for companies to complete their registration was the end of March, and the regulations came into effect on April 1.
Apple has removed apps from the Chinese app store before.
In 2017, Apple removed the New York Times news app for violating local regulations, a move that came amid increased news censorship in the world's second-largest economy. It remains unavailable on Apple's China App Store.
Last year, Apple retired many ChatGPT-like apps as the Chinese government grappled with local regulations for generative artificial intelligence (AI) services.
The removal of WhatsApp and Threads from China's App Store was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
(Reporting by Josh Yeh in Hong Kong and Mrinmay Dey and Nirtpal Timsina in Bangalore; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
