Apple has come under new pressure from China's government to limit access to Western apps, such as Facebook or Instagram, on the iPhones in the country.
Officials told Apple staff in a recent meeting that the tech giant must implement rules banning unregistered foreign apps from the Chinese version of its app store, according to the Wall Street Journal.
While China has historically blocked access to Western social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, and X, the App Store often acted as a loophole in the country's "Great Firewall" that allowed Chinese users access to the forbidden platforms. Chinese users previously breached the country's content restrictions by using virtual private networks, software that connects users with the internet in another country. This method allowed users to access major Western social media platforms despite the country banning them.
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, and X have been collectively downloaded more than 170 million times in China, according to analytics firm SensorTower.