> The bigger news to me was that Apple blocked AirDrop in China
The article you linked doesn't say anything about blocking. It just says that they changed the "Everyone" option to "Everyone up to 10 minutes." How is that blocking? Do you have any other source to support your assertion that they blocked it in China?
Because you can no longer keep it on everyone 24x7 to anonymously airdrop protest information without fear of being caught or tracked. You also can't use it to adhoc communicate when the internet is shut off. It's effectively blocked and rendered useless for those reasons.
You are underestimating how severely it cripples it for sharing of protest material, especially between people who may not formally know each other. It is a fatal blow, make no mistake.
The article you linked doesn't say anything about blocking. It just says that they changed the "Everyone" option to "Everyone up to 10 minutes." How is that blocking? Do you have any other source to support your assertion that they blocked it in China?