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

  • @jetAEnglish
    8•2 months ago

    Honestly, this is kind of a relief. When India banned encrypted messaging apps except signal that was very suspicious.

    • @rottingleaf@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1•2 months ago

      So Telegram being banned makes you less suspicious of that?

      How can one be so gullible.

      EDIT: Also a nation-state can get a backdoor to your device or a trojan, in case you are using something secure from them.

      • @jetAEnglish
        2•2 months ago

        In this context signal getting banned gives more credibility to signal, but it should be noted signal wasn’t banned in India even though briar was.

        I’m not sure what your threat model is, I don’t see how I’m being gullible. Looking at who bans what is a signal that we should incorporate into our threat modeling

            • lemmyreaderEnglish
              3•2 months ago

              Thanks.

              In other words: “You want to block Briar? Go ahead and try.”

              Nice.

              • @jetAEnglish
                1•2 months ago

                You can, just block Tor; Block all ISPs from serving install files for briar. Get it removed from the app stores.

                • @EngineerGaming@feddit.nlEnglish
                  0•2 months ago

                  “Just block Tor” lol. Even China could not do it fully, good luck. There was even a new type of bridge released recently so chances are slimmer.

        • @rottingleaf@lemmy.zipEnglish
          2•2 months ago

          You should consider that when a nation-state chooses which applications to ban, they know that somebody will use the fact for threat modelling. They are giving out that information consciously while making that decision.

    • @WamGams@lemmy.caEnglish
      10•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
        -5•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?

        • Praise IdlenessEnglish
          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
            0•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 IdlenessEnglish
              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?