Apple has been accused of censoring a pro-democracy app in Hong Kong after Chinese officials warned that it might contravene the recently imposed draconian national security law. The law prohibits any criticism of the Chinese government.
Pro-democracy campaigners created PopVote, an unofficial election effectively acting as a popularity poll for candidates opposed to the Chinese crackdown in the region. Both iOS and Android apps were created for it …
But Quartz reports that the iOS app never made it onto the App Store.
Additionally, the PopVote website is currently unavailable. It has in the past been hit by what CloudFlare’s CEO described as ‘the largest [Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)] attacks we, or anyone else, have ever seen [and] definitely the most sophisticated.’
Ahead of the poll, local officials warned it could be considered a violation of the new law, and yesterday Beijing’s liaison office condemned the exercise as “illegal.” Apple has not responded to a request for comment.
Apple is coming under criticism for remaining largely silent on the issue, though the piece does note the difficult position faced by tech companies.
I’ve written before about Apple’s increasingly difficult relationship with China, which is now turning into a huge liability for the company. I outlined three dangers, with reputational damage one of these.
‘It’s a situation in which the companies have to decide which bad options they want to go for,’ said Rebecca MacKinnon, director of Ranking Digital Rights at New America. ‘It’s hard to see how they can remain in Hong Kong and not be complicit.’
If the claim is true, that Apple has censored a pro-democracy app to appease the Chinese government, that is really not a good look for the Cupertino company.
Photo: Pxhere
