If you're referring to the DMA, "remove these two apps from your store" is so much simpler (not to mention clearer) than that cluster, it's pointless to even compare the two situations.
DMA compliance is only hard because it gets in the way of Apple’s scummy business model.
It does not have to be hard. Most products begin as DMA compliant, it takes extra effort to make them not compliant. Apple can stop that extra effort virtually overnight.
As long as Apple gets their cut, they don't care. Their icloud servers are even controlled by the government in China, pulling out a few apps is nothing compared to that. And they are still operating in Russia like nothing happened.
They really don't like the EU because it threatens their cut and risks a domino effect globally where other countries could ask the same. China and Russia do not do that.
The law of EU is threatening the whole business model of Apple, while the order of China relates to a single product only, and not even a product of Apple itself. So the cases are not comparable at all.
Besides, the Chinese order is a clear cut while the law of EU open many ways to interpret.
This is only a problem if you’re intentionally trying to do the bare minimum or have a scummy business model that you’re trying to protect.
You can always take the nicest, pro-user (or pro-competition, pro-privacy, etc) approach to preempt any variance in interpretation. Nobody’s been fined for being too compliant after all.
And what would the society would get (net total) if everybody is too compliant with the law or government’s orders? Where would we go? I don’t think it would be a nice place.
PS: not particularly related to the Apple’s case, though.
They probably are. They have roughly the same sized economies in nominal GDP, China is a lot bigger in PP terms, and China's government has a far greater powers and a far more compliant legal system to enforce its will.
Practically it’s a no op. To use WhatsApp or Threads I need an app to bypass the GFW, which is not available on Chinese App Store. So I have an American Apple ID to download a proxying app. Then there is no point for me to download those two apps from the Chinese App Store even back when they still existed.
What I’m really afraid of is that someday iPhones within China won’t be able to login to Apple Store in another region.
Instagram and TikTok don’t work in China without a VPN. I’d be surprised if other Meta apps worked either. Most apps in China require a Chinese phone number to fully work too.
> In a statement, embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said that the “Chinese Embassy in the US tries to tell the truth about the TikTok issue to people from all walks of life in the US.”
> “This is not about lobbying for a single company,” the spokesperson added, “but about whether all Chinese companies can be treated fairly.”
> In the wake of the House bill’s passage, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the legislation “puts the US on the wrong side of the principles of fair competition and international trade rules.”
Which is a concern from a national security point of view.
From a personal point of view the Chinese government is less of a threat to my privacy than my own country's government because they have far less access to other information about me, so cannot correlate other things with whatever I do on tik-tok.
Every government has spies that engage with and manipulate the locals
Kent State? UC Davis pepper spray?
This is some invisible hand shit to ignore every nation state acts the same as every other. Look at the US trying to protect their propaganda outlets from TikTok.
Despite the high minded rhetoric the real world leaves few options for behavior.
The US or other western countries don't hide/censor things like China & the CCP, you're free to publish your opinion here. US doesn't have police stations in my country, but is following international rules for extradition.
The level of danger involved with meta info gathering from the west is much safer than those from the "axis of evil".
All dangerous trends seem to be coming from TikTok these days.
And there is a reason TikTok itselve is also banned in China and why the videos on Douyin are so different.
TikTok should have been banned yesterday. The CCP can't be trusted with a democratic country.
You think it's good that China is harassing Chinese who have abandoned the Chinese nationality even in foreign countries and ignoring the laws of that country and their new nationality?
You think that's a good thing? You do know why normal countries don't extradite people to dictatorships, no? :)
I'm not saying it's good as a whole, I'm just saying that if you're not Chinese, have no connections to China you are safer on a Chinese-owned platform than one controlled by your own government.
That sure didn't happen in the EU, did it?
Is Apple just more scared of China?