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
I’m not sure how much the tiktok ban will be balkanization so much as just the death of the product. It’s popular in the EU but not nearly to the extent as the US market.
No idea who would step into tiktok’s shoes in the advent of a ban. Hopefully not any of the big players - their offerings all blow compared to TT.