It’s been reported that the Chinese government has ordered Apple to remove popular messaging apps including Meta’s WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal from its iPhone app store in China, due to national security concerns.

Some reports indicate that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) may not be happy that the apps are outside of their control and are pro-democracy media, plus contain political content (such as criticism of the Chinese president and government).

Also, this is likely to be part of the ongoing poor relations, trade wars, and tit-for-tat responses between China and the US. For example, the US is currently in the process of trying to ban the Chinese company Bytedance’s hugely popular TikTok app in the US due to the company’s alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party and, therefore, the possible threat to US national security.