In the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, just search for “Skype for Business” and install it like any other app.
You can install this app on your iOS or Android smartphones and tablets in order to enable you to keep communicating with your colleagues. Earlier this year, Apple said it planned to open a data center in China, also in response to China’s new Internet laws, which require that such centers be within the country’s borders.Whether you want to use the instant messaging features you’ve come to know in Skype for Business or if you have been moved to our new phone system and want to use your SMU phone number from anywhere, the Skype for Business mobile app is your best resource! In that case, as in this one, it said that the apps violated Chinese rules and that it had taken them down to comply.
“Hence these also come under pressure, and are increasingly being throttled or blocked,” he said.Įarlier this year, Apple faced heavy criticism after it said it had decided to take down software from its App Store in China that helps circumvent the government’s Internet filters, colloquially called the Great Firewall. “A broad reading of provisions in the law could be taken to mean that there is no longer support for allowing unfettered access to foreign communications tools such as Skype, WhatsApp, Signal and others that are outside the direct control of Chinese authorities,” said Paul Triolo, the head of global technology at Eurasia Group, a consultancy. While the rules do not specifically ban foreign messaging apps, they do include general language that could be used to justify crackdowns.
Foreign TV shows were taken down, software that helps evade China’s Internet filters was targeted with heavy disruptions, and in some cases, companies restricted the amount of time that children could spend playing video games.īut a key Chinese Communist Party meeting had already ended when Skype disappeared from the app stores - an indication that the cybersecurity law was the reason, and that the law, which began to be implemented in June, is likely to have a deep and long-lasting impact on how the Internet works in China. In recent months, a combination of sensitive political meetings and a new cybersecurity law has led to a sharp crackdown on Internet freedoms in China. Last year, it said it complied with a request from Chinese authorities to remove apps created by the New York Times from its China store. To stay in China’s good graces, Apple has taken down apps from its Chinese App Store in the past. The move is a reminder of how beholden Apple has become to the Chinese government at a moment when the leadership is pushing to tighten its control over the Internet. Because Google’s services are largely blocked in China, Android users revert to alternate stores for downloads, and Skype’s main app was not available on popular ones run by Chinese tech giants like Huawei and Xiaomi. Such products also often run afoul of government rules that require the use of real-name identification for each and every account.Ī Microsoft spokesman said Skype had been “temporarily removed” from Apple’s App Store and that the company was “working to reinstate the app as soon as possible.” But the spokesman did not address Skype’s absence from a variety of major third-party Android app stores.
Others include Gmail, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Telegram and Line.īeijing appears to have disabled these apps because they generally feature encryption options that make messages harder for the government to monitor. While China has long wielded the most sophisticated and comprehensive Internet controls in the world, under President Xi Jinping it has upped the ante, squelching most major foreign social networks and messaging apps one at a time.Įarlier this fall, Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp was hit by blockages in China, becoming the latest in a long line of products to be rendered unusable by Chinese government filters. But its removal from the app stores is the most recent example of a decades-long push by China’s government to control and monitor the flow of information online. Skype, which is owned by Microsoft, still functions in China, and its fate in the country is not yet clear. The users said that the disruption began in late October. The removal led to a volley of complaints from Chinese users on Internet message boards who were no longer able to pay for Skype’s services through Apple. “These apps remain available in all other markets where they do business.” Therefore these apps have been removed from the App Store in China,” an Apple spokeswoman said Tuesday in an email responding to questions about Skype’s disappearance from the App Store. “We have been notified by the Ministry of Public Security that a number of voice over Internet protocol apps do not comply with local law.