If you feel like instant messaging and using Apple devices are taking up too much of your time, maybe you should move to China.
In efforts to "uphold the socialist system" in the country, state media announced today that they are adding mobile messaging app restrictions to ensure citizens are not posting political reports without the government's permission, according to Channel News Asia.
Along with tighter Internet restrictions, the country is also banning government use of Apple products as a security defense against America, reports The Telegraph. This applies to all central and local agencies in China.
"I think this provision is more to threaten and give warnings than to actually provide supervision and control," Zhang Lifan, a historian and blogger in Beijing tells FT.com. "What we should look out for is who will be the first to be punished using these provisions, then it will be clear who was the intended target."
The Chinese stock market is also feeling these restrictions, as shares in the company Tencent (which owns WeChat and QQ, the most popular instant messaging services in China) decreased by 3.5 percent since the beginning of May.
The bans will also reportedly apply to other messaging apps used in the country such as Korea-based chat apps Line, Kakaotalk, and push-to-talk apps Talkbox and Vower. Texting app Didi will also be included, reports FT.com
The restrictions on the messaging apps are tightening up by requiring new users to verify their identities with the messaging provider and by signing an agreement to act by the Communist party's "seven bottom lines," according to FT.com.
The "seven bottom lines" includes the law, the socialist system, the nation's interests, citizens' rights, public order, social morals and the authenticity of information.
Although it's not uncommon for China to restrict free speech and what people are doing on the Internet, this is the first time they are crediting the messaging app restrictions to terrorist prevention. Lee Jin-kyu, the Korean science ministry's Web director told the website, however, that there wasn't a specific terrorist action behind this move.
In other efforts to protect the country's security digitally, China recently told government officials to restrain from purchasing antivirus software from Symantec Corporation and Kaspersky Lab, both U.S. technology companies. Microsoft is also banned from government purchases of energy efficient computers, including their Windows 8 operating system.
