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A comment on Biden signs TikTok 'ban' bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest. Parent comment

Re:Biden signs TikTok 'ban' bill into law, starting clock fo... by insane_dreamer on Wednesday April 24, 2024 @09:10PM (#40152041)
> I wonder: Are there any Western apps which Chinese citizens would lose social credit or are officially prohibited from using?

That's not how it works. The apps are not officially banned, they are just unavailable or don't work. If they're not on the China iOS store (separate than US) then you can't install them, and if you went abroad and managed to install them, they just can't connect to the IG or whatever servers once you're back in China. Same for Android.

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Re:Biden signs TikTok 'ban' bill into law, starting clock fo... by jjeaff on Wednesday April 24, 2024 @09:16PM (#40152081)
This doesn't seem correct. It was just in the news that Meta had to remove one of their apps from the Chinese market at the request of the Chinese gov.
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Re:Biden signs TikTok 'ban' bill into law, starting clock fo... by insane_dreamer on Wednesday April 24, 2024 @11:52PM (#40153217)
That's my point, they are not officially banned, but they're just "not available in the app store" (which is effectively banned, just not under that name).

But that overt request was unusual. Most apps are simply removed as part of Apple's "compliance with local regulations".

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Re:Biden signs TikTok 'ban' bill into law, starting clock fo... by number_man on Thursday April 25, 2024 @12:55AM (#40153578)
The regulation recently changed and now requires all apps in the App Store to have a permit from the Chinese authority or be removed.
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Re:Biden signs TikTok 'ban' bill into law, starting clock fo... by insane_dreamer on Thursday April 25, 2024 @08:16AM (#40156568)
Ah interesting; I didn’t know that had changed. It looks like the gov is more open about the banning now.
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Re:Biden signs TikTok 'ban' bill into law, starting clock fo... by jibe on Wednesday April 24, 2024 @09:43PM (#40152347)
Yes, China officially banned Threads and WhatsApp just a few days ago. They had Apple remove them from the App Store.
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Re:Biden signs TikTok 'ban' bill into law, starting clock fo... by throwawayq3423 on Wednesday April 24, 2024 @09:49PM (#40152386)
If the only way someone can use your product is flying to another country to acquire it, it's a ban. Giving it other language is supportive of Chinese government efforts to soften the reality around their unfair practices.
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