Apple has removed Meta’s WhatsApp and Threads from China’s App Store following an order from China’s top internet regulator, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing the technology giant.

Beijing imposes some of the world’s most widespread internet censorship, and web users in mainland China are unable to access everything from Google to many foreign apps without using a virtual private network.

“We are obligated to comply with the laws of the countries where we do business, even if we disagree,” Apple said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.

“Based on national security concerns, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) ordered the removal of these apps from the China Store,” Apple said, referring to China’s internet regulator.

“The apps will still be available for download on all other storefronts where they appear.”

A Meta spokesman referred AFP to Apple, but the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There was also no immediate response from the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China’s other top internet regulator.

China is an important market for Apple, which won the Chinese smartphone market title for the first time last year.

But thorny issues such as censorship and national security have long dogged the U.S. company’s operations in China as Beijing and Washington battle for technological supremacy.

In January, China said it had cracked Apple’s encrypted AirDrop communications service, which provided a key channel for protesters to share information during major pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019.

State-backed experts said in January that they had devised a way to leak iPhones’ encrypted device logs, allowing them to identify AirDrop users’ phone numbers and email accounts.

Many online platforms popular in much of the world – including Google, Facebook, X, WhatsApp and TikTok – are blocked in mainland China.

But savvy Chinese iPhone users can still download banned platforms through the Apple App Store and then use a VPN to bypass the restrictions.

Removing WhatsApp and Threads from Chinese app stores will significantly complicate new iPhone users’ ability to access these apps.

The latest developments come a day ahead of a scheduled vote in the U.S. House of Representatives that will force the popular video app TikTok to sever all ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance.

In recent years, U.S. officials have expressed concerns about potential national security and privacy threats posed by TikTok, despite the company’s repeated assurances that TikTok poses no risk to the American public.

Beijing has often lashed out at U.S. restrictions on Chinese technology, claiming it is an excuse to curb China’s economic rise.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)