Apple has removed WhatsApp and Threads from its application store in China at the request of the authorities. “The Chinese Cyberspace Administration (CAC) has ordered the removal of these applications due to national security concerns, Apple said in a statement.
WhatsApp is a popular instant messaging application, while Threads is a competitor to X (formerly Twitter). Apple products, from the iPhone to the iPad, are immensely popular in China, one of the American group's main markets outside the U.S. The Apple brand has always refrained from commenting on the matter, which it referred to AFP to the CAC for comment. The CAC and the Ministry of Industry and Technology, which also supervises the Internet in the country, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Apple decision. The application is largely supplanted in China by WeChat (messaging, online payment, social network, purchases, and reservations). The application, present on almost all phones in the country, serves as a means of payment for hundreds of millions of Chinese every day.