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Apple Removes WhatsApp, Threads, Telegram, and Signal from China App Store, says it complied with orders from the Chinese government (arstechnica.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Apple said it complied with orders from the Chinese government to remove the Meta-owned WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China. Apple also removed Telegram and Signal from China.

The New York Times similarly wrote that "a person briefed on the situation said the Chinese government had found content on WhatsApp and Threads about China's president, Xi Jinping, that was inflammatory and violated the country's cybersecurity laws. The specifics of what was in the content was unclear, the person said."

"These apps and many foreign apps are normally blocked on Chinese networks by the 'Great Firewall'—the country's extensive cybersystem of censorship—and can only be used with a virtual private network or other proxy tools," Reuters wrote.

"For years, Apple has bowed to Beijing's demands that it block an array of apps, including newspapers, VPNs, and encrypted messaging services," The New York Times noted yesterday.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

You can't even sideload on ios can you? So if Apple removes it from the app store you're shit outta luck?

Fuck apple. But it stuff like this that makes me have no sympathy for people who buy iphones.

Edit: also fuck China. Just being thorough

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (2 children)

You can sideload in a way, but it's a bit annoying. Unless you pay for an Apple Developer account (IIRC about 100$ a year), you'll have to re-sideload the app every 7 days.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What a stupid thing. What is this preventing? Like if Apple is trying to prevent you from side loading a malicious app, it's cool if it's only malicious for a week?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

It’s kind of a loophole, the technique is not meant for sideloading. It allows developers to test their app on a real device, but because you only need the IPA file for this, you can use it for sideloading.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

(Or sideload an additional app to do that for you)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

So if Apple removes it from the app store you're shit outta luck?

Not if you've installed it before, in which case you can download it from a not-very-well-known purchase history.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Unless the app is delisted which can also happen. Flappy Bird was one of the more well known examples of that (I remember people seeing phones on eBay with it still installed for stupid money). If that happens you can't reinstall it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

You can sideload on iOS. It’s not nearly as easy it is on Android, but it’s not hard. Any of us that are developing are doing it consistently.

That said. Sideloading isn’t exactly easy when China’w great firewall is blocking direct download sites and monitoring / censoring search engines, VPNs, ISPs, etc. Things are not like they are in the west.