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
Honestly, this is kind of a relief. When India banned encrypted messaging apps except signal that was very suspicious.
So Telegram being banned makes you less suspicious of that?
How can one be so gullible.
EDIT: Also a nation-state can get a backdoor to your device or a trojan, in case you are using something secure from them.
In this context signal getting banned gives more credibility to signal, but it should be noted signal wasn’t banned in India even though briar was.
I’m not sure what your threat model is, I don’t see how I’m being gullible. Looking at who bans what is a signal that we should incorporate into our threat modeling
Briar was banned in India ? wow.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/09/india_messaging_apps_ban/
Element, Wickrme, Mediafire, Briar, BChat, Nandbox, Conion, IMO and Zangi
Thanks.
Nice.
You can, just block Tor; Block all ISPs from serving install files for briar. Get it removed from the app stores.
“Just block Tor” lol. Even China could not do it fully, good luck. There was even a new type of bridge released recently so chances are slimmer.
It’s not about perfection, just keeping friction high enough that it doesn’t become a threat.
As a thought experiment how many Tor users are in north korea?
Oh, they banned Zangi. I didn’t even know it’s used anywhere outside Armenia.
You should consider that when a nation-state chooses which applications to ban, they know that somebody will use the fact for threat modelling. They are giving out that information consciously while making that decision.