Apple has removed several widely used communications platforms from its app store in China at the request of the Chinese government.

Apple has complied with the Chinese government’s request to remove several popular communication apps from its app store, including WhatsApp, Threads, Signal, and Telegram, due to national security concerns. This action was taken following a directive from the Cyberspace Administration of China. These apps have been crucial for political dissidents globally, especially in China where political expression is heavily regulated. Despite previous reliance on VPNs to access these platforms, they are now unavailable for download in China through the official app store. This move by Apple comes amidst increasing tensions between the U.S. and China in the realm of consumer technology, with discussions in the U.S. Senate about the future of TikTok, a popular social media app owned by a Chinese parent company

  • WamGamsEnglish
    144·
    2 months ago

    The people of China should lose encrypted communication because you are losing your minute long videos of fortnite dances?

    • AnAnonymous@lemm.eeEnglish
      38·
      2 months ago

      It’s more complex than that, if the US have blocked China on recollecting and analyzing the data of the US population, then seems fair to stop platforms which do the same but for the US govt.

      Why do you think there are “free” apps if there is a cost into making them work? There is no such thing as something free, not in this world.

      Or do you believe we are in the era of philanthropic corps?

      • WamGamsEnglish
        61·
        2 months ago

        Signal does not hoard data on behalf of the US government.

      • Praise Idleness@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        How is it that you don’t know that open source projects exist and yet on Lemmy?

        Lemmy is literally free, as in beer and as in freedom, latter which I don’t think you’ll ever appreciate.

        • AnAnonymous@lemm.eeEnglish
          11·
          2 months ago

          I think you misunderstood me, I don’t say free services didn’t exist but there is a big difference between services runned by the community and services runned by foundations and corporations.

          • Praise Idleness@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            2·
            2 months ago

            I’m not talking about free services. I’m talking about open services that people can (almost) ultimately trust. We know that Signal can’t do anything about private messages because we know for sure they are encrypted. There are opensource clients too. Aside from having to give them your phone number, the fact that they can’t read any of the strings/media you send through it, is not going to change whether if the server is selfhosted or ran by Meta or Google.

            Are you also concerned about MS stealing your data even if a computer has never been connected to the Internet and never will?