In lieu of the recent privacy and security concerns, a number of Chinese apps are under the radar. Afte India banned TikTok and the US considering following the suit, the whole situation has caused a lot of stir among the users of social media apps. In this state of confusion, you’d be forgiven to wonder whether Instagram and Snapchat could be sitting down too? Well, we are here to set the record straight.

What is the doubt surrounding Snapchat and Instagram?

As with celebrities, rumors always abound those in the spotlight. Being among the top social media apps in the world, there are constant rumors flying around about Snapchat and Instagram.

Snapchat in particular is rumored to shut down every year. This probably began around 2017 when the app saw a drastic drop in its userbase. Since then, however, Snapchat has pulled up its socks and upped its game.

The rumors with regard to Instagram are actually misplaced with its sister app ‘Instagram Lite’. Parent company ‘Facebook’ had launched a lite version of the social media app back in 2018. Instagram Lite was only launched in a few countries including the Philippines, Mexico, and Peru. However, the app was discontinued in May 2020 leading people to believe that Instagram too was shutting down.

Related: How to get Chinese TikTok

Is Snapchat or Instagram Shutting Down?

Well, no. Both Snapchat and Instagram users do not have to worry about their app shutting down. While Instagram is owned by Facebook, Snapchat comes under the company Snap Inc. Both these are American companies headquartered in the U.S.

What the US government is deliberating on is banning certain Chinese apps. Both Snapchat and Instagram are their own apps, so we don’t see any reason why the US, or any country for that matter, could ban Instagram or Snapchat. Neither of the apps have been under great scrutiny with regard to user privacy, either.

In fact, both Facebook and Instagram are banned in China. The Chinese government has very strict rules when it comes to foreign apps.

Related: Is Instagram a Chinese App?

Which apps are shutting down?

In fact, there are a few apps that Google will be pulling from development in 2020 including Neighbourly, and Google Chrome Apps. This however has nothing to do with the recent security concerns. For a full list of discontinued apps, check out the link below.

Link: KilledbyGoogle

India has already banned a list of over 50 Chinese apps and has also had them removed from the Google Play Store and App Store. While no such measure has yet been implemented in the U.S., talks are on about banning certain Chinese apps.

Rumors about apps being pulled are quite common. Luckily these rumors can be easily debunked. If you have any queries, feel free to reach out to us in the comments below.

Related: