Taylor Swift joins Meta’s Threads, welcomed by Zuckerberg with a pun. Apple removes Threads from iPhones in China due to cybersecurity violations amid US-China tensions. US threatens TikTok ban over national security concerns.

Taylor Swift has recently joined Facebook-parent Meta’s micro-blogging site Threads. The social media giant’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg seems excited about the popular artist joining the social media platform that competes with Elon Musk-owned X (earlier Twitter).

In a post shared on Threads, Zuckerberg welcomed Swift with a message saying: “Nice to meet you, where have you been?”
These words are also the lyrics of Swift’s hit number “Blank Space”.So, the welcome message from Zuckerberg may be a carefully worded pun for the renowned artist.
Apart from signing up with the new social media platform, Swift has also released her new single The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD).

The Tortured Poets Department

Taylor Swift may ease some of Threads ‘tensions’

The company might be hoping for Swift to bring over a portion of her huge fan base to Threads. In July 2023, the Meta-owned micro-blogging platform became the fastest-growing app by hitting 100 million downloads within a week. Later on, Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot broke Threads’ record to claim the title for itself.

Recently Threads has been facing even more issues as Apple has removed the app, along with the popular instant messaging platform WhatsApp from iPhones in China. To comply with the Chinese authorities, the Cupertino-based tech giant has taken down these two apps from its App Store in China.
This move comes amidst increasing tensions between the US and China. Apple said that China’s internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration, ordered the removal of these apps.
In a report, the New York Times cited a source saying the Chinese government had found inflammatory content on WhatsApp and Threads about China’s president, Xi Jinping, that violated the country’s cybersecurity laws. However, the source didn’t clarify the specifics of what was in the content, the report added.
On the other hand, the US has also threatened to bring legislation to ban TikTok over national security concerns.
For comparison, TikTok, which is owned by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, is used by millions in the US. Meanwhile, apps like WhatsApp and Threads are not commonly used in China.