On Friday, Facebook said it cut Huawei off its popular social network apps to comply with U.S. sanctions and further remove the Chinese tech giant from Washington as a threat to national security.
The giant of social media said that it took the steps to prevent Huawei from exporting US technology by President Donald Trump from being told that it works with Chinese intelligence.
“We review the final rule of the Commerce Department and the recently issued temporary general license and take steps to ensure compliance,” said the AFP Facebook spokesperson.
California has stated that people who have existing Huawei smartphones with Facebook apps will continue to use and download Facebook app updates.
Facebook’s move is the latest to isolate Huawei, the world’s second-largest smartphone provider despite security issues in Washington.
Google said it would cut links with Huawei last month, making it more difficult to obtain major US giant apps.
The decision from Google would leave Huawei without the Play Store, the marketplace for the majority of Android apps and other mobile operating system elements.
Facebook–banned in China but with more than two billion users worldwide-said its decision would affect its core social network and apps like Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp that have at least one billion users each.
The United States sanctions were imposed on May 15, but the administration has allowed 90 days to comply, allowing users of Huawei devices time to update and prevent major mobile disruptions.
Isolation of Huawei
Huawei has indicated that it will create its own operating system to replace Google’s Android platform, but it will also need to develop its own app marketplace if it wants to retain users outside China.
To keep up on the smartphone market, Huawei would also need to find a new supply of chips and related hardware without US suppliers like Intel, Qualcomm and Broadcom.
To make matters more difficult for Huawei, it is likely to be cut off from ARM Holdings, the British semiconductor designer whose technology is used in most mobile chips.
In the face of US concern, Trump’s move has been that Huawei, the 5 G network leader, would allow China to snoop on High Speed wireless networks. His administration also tried to prevent US allies from using Huawei equipment.
Trump told reporters last month that Huawei was “very dangerous” from a security point of view, but then outlined the possibility of dropping sanctions on the Chinese firm as part of a trade deal.
The fight over Huawei comes in the midst of a wider trade war between the two largest economies and sanctions imposed by the US president, who accuses China of unfair practices and subsidies.
