TikTok’s Real Owners: China Orders Apple to Censor Popular Messaging Apps Including WhatsApp, Telegram

Tim Cook speaks in China
NG HAN GUAN /Getty
Alana Mastrangelo

China has reportedly ordered Apple to remove WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram, among other popular messaging apps, from its iPhone app store in order to comply with the Chinese Communist Party’s censorship demand.

The communist regime has ordered Apple to remove popular messaging platforms from its app store in China in the country’s latest move to censor its citizens, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The apps that China wants censored reportedly include Meta’s WhatsApp and Threads apps, as well as the Signal and Telegram messaging platforms, which were removed from Apple’s app store in the communist country on Friday.

07 July 2022, Berlin: The logo of the video community TikTok at the fashion fair Premium. Photo: Jens Kalaene/dpa (Photo by Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Images), Xi Jinping, China's president, waves after speaking at a swearing-in ceremony for Hong Kong's chief executive John Lee in Hong Kong, China, on Friday, July 1, 2022. Hong Kongs new security-minded leader was sworn in by President Xi Jinping as the city marks 25 years of Chinese rule, after declaring the Asian financial hub had been reborn after a crackdown on the pro-democracy opposition. Photographer: Justin Chin/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Photographer: Justin Chin/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Apple said it was also ordered to remove other apps, noting that China cited national security concerns, but the tech giant did not specify which apps it had to eliminate in order to appease the communist country.

While China demands that an American company censor certain apps from its citizens’ iPhones — ironically claiming it is over national security concerns — the hostile foreign country has no intention of offering the United States the same favor.

Notably, China’s popular TikTok app is widely viewed as a national security threat by U.S. lawmakers, as well as a danger to kids and teens around the world.

As Breitbart News reported, the U.S. House of Representatives recently overwhelmingly passed legislation that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if its parent company Chinese tech giant ByteDance — which is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party — does not sell the app within six months.

The bill is now being reviewed by the U.S. Senate, and may end up on President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party is secretly lobbying the U.S. Congress regarding TikTok, according to Capitol Hill staffers familiar with the situation. TikTok has also recently purchased $2.1 million in television advertising in the battleground states in an apparent attempt to meddle in U.S. elections.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

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