Facebook Blocking Huawei from Pre-Installing Its App

With President Trump's effective ban on U.S. trade with Chinese telecom company Huawei, the company has newly suffered yet another blow.

Facebook has joined in with a number of Western tech companies and indicated that they will no longer allow Huawei to pre-install its app on their smartphones. 

SEE ALSO: HUAWEI'S NEW OS ACCELERATES PLANS TO CHALLENGE GOOGLE, APPLE'S DOMINANCE

What does this mean?

Huawei smartphone users will still be able to download the Facebook app, just like with WhatsApp or Instagram, but it will cease to be pre-installed. Up until now, Huawei has offered apps such as Facebook and Twitter pre-installed right out of the box.

According to Reuters, Facebook is closing off pre-installation on “any phone which has not yet left the factory.” 

Facebook isn't the only one changing deals with Huawei.

Google is dealing with the trade ban with Huawei in a slightly different manner. The tech company currently has a temporary license to keep sending security updates to already existing Huawei smartphones. The phones that are in stores, or that "have not yet shipped or even been built”, will still have the Google services pre-installed. 

While Facebook's move closes Huawei's avenues off a little more with its Western ties, it isn't as big a blow as previous decisions made by Google or ARM, both of which restrict the use of Android services. 

What this may mean for Huawei, though, is that the company may have to create its own app store - not an easy feat.