Apple Pulls Hong Kong Protest App From App Store Following Chinese Criticism [Updated]

[ilikewhey]

It's my understanding that people from Mainland China have to be against the HK protests because their Social Credit Score (read: Gov't-regulated reputation) depends on their compliance with the Gov't's ideologies.

that definitely have some influence to it no doubt, but remember there are literally millions of folks who got lifted out of poverty because of CCP, and a whole generation of middle class because of gov't planning. there are alot of folks who are loyal to the gov't.

 

[Glideslope]

Nothing but a bunch of Cupertino Cowards. Shame on you Tim Apple. Practice what you preach you hypocrite. This is what you get for sleeping with the Chinese.

 

[Ishayu]

By editorially curating their app store, Apple has now come into a position where they find themselves on both sides of a war. (Well, it's technically not a war yet, but it will be)

No matter what side they pick, they will lose.

The only answer is liberalism: Remove the monopoly of the app store. Now everybody can download whatever and you can remove the app without guilt.

Let's see if Apple's smart enough to catch on to that. I highly doubt it.

 

[Jsameds]

Nothing but a bunch of Cupertino Cowards. Shame on you Tim Apple. Practice what you preach you hypocrite. This is what you get for sleeping with the Chinese.

He preaches App Store rules, and he's practicing enforcing them.

 

[1146331]

So many ignorant posts here.

So using the logic of several people I won't single out lest the MR Mods decide the censor me:
Human rights only matters in countries where they already have freedom, for everybody else it's a moot point.

Mmmmkay got it, Apple fanboys only care about human rights if it's legal to have human rights. Using that logic, InfoWars shouldn't be banned from the app store.

 

[DakotaGuy]

Good to see a lot of right wingers on here, this woke leftie generation is getting to much, anyone with a conservative view is being banned and silenced by big tech and Apple is the same

Human rights and freedom of speech shouldn't be a conservative or liberal belief. It should just be a human belief.

I thought Apple had courage, but I guess that only applied to removing a headphone jack.

 

[ChromeAce]

Shouldn’t the Facebook app be removed for repeatedly violating user privacy, including allowing government to target dissident citizens? And that’s just in the US.

 

[5105973]

Everything changed after 9/11 as 6000 people were killed or injured, people forget that number. Organizations taking advantage of our freedoms to kill innocent citizens in our own country. Also people forget that anarchists and crime mobs 100 years ago where causing deaths in america. That is when wire tapping started and the FBI was created, again criminals taking advantage of american freedoms for their own agenda.

Study the past and you know about now and the future.

I am actually old enough to have lived through some of that past. My friends and family personally lost people in 9/11. Trust me, I remember it.

We do have to have some form of surveillance to enforce laws, but we have a legal process that must be followed to carry it out.

The government tries to circumvent our system of checks and balances against the violations of the spirit of our Constitution from time to time. Whistleblowers come forth. The government pulls back, because the government is wrong when they start randomly putting everyone and everything under surveillance.

Do you want to live in an Orwellian dystopia?

Do you want a government spook deciding something you posted on a forum was dangerously against the collective hivemind that ALL governments naturally evolve toward?

Our founding fathers who framed the Constitution understood that this is how governments naturally trend. They worded and framed our Constitution the way it is for a reason. What they did and why they did it and how they fought to get it all established is the history I treasure most.

So much that has come after has been a permutation of what our founders warned against.

 

[stevie grant]

Apple playing hypocrite once again.

Pathetic.

 

[WWPD]

This has made me seriously think about dumping Apple and moving to Android..

Not they they are probably any better.

 

[jonnyb098]

Depending on what media you are view, there are alot more videos of the police just randomly arresting people during the day, and a lot more at night. At least the majority of citizens are using this app to avoid the police squads when they go out , for example, to have dinner.

Or it’s being used to commit violence and robbery where there are less police.
From Apple:"The app displays police locations and we have verified with [Hong Kong authorities] that the app has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement," Apple said in an emailed response to CNN Business.

 

[bigjnyc]

Apple and the NBA bend the knee to china.... Who knew they had so much power over US corporations.

 

[Khedron]

Fine. But I hope Tim Cook gets an exit strategy from China going. I’ve seen enough of him fawning over China in keynotes. He’s done it less more recently, so I’m hoping that Apple is secretly hatching an exit strategy and just playing it cool so as to not tip their hand too soon.

I do love my iPhone 11 Pro and my iPad mini 5. They’re among the best Apple products I’ve ever owned. Apple products are used in our schools. It would be difficult and sad to leave the ecosystem right now. In that respect I am in the same position Apple is in. So while I rage against all of this I do understand the position Apple/Tim Cook is in.

But I’m not living in this limbo indefinitely. I need to see some movement of Apple away from China. Or I will employ an exist strategy from the Apple ecosystem.

China’s paranoid regime is a malignant cancer. Yes, my government is not saintly either. Few governments are and totalitarianism tends to try and sneak in and erode freedom everywhere. But so far, I am free to make insulting remarks about the president and not worry I’ll be dragged off to be “reformed”. I’m free to worship the deity of my choice in the manner of my choosing and not a president for life. I have no desire to see myself or others enslaved to a real life version of the Borg collective.

Samsung has just pulled out of China so expect Apple to invent that in another 2 years

 

[tzm41]

Demonstrations started in June, not March...

 

[5105973]

This has made me seriously think about dumping Apple and moving to Android..

Not they they are probably any better.

Hey I’ve looked into for other reasons. I do run an Android line concurrently. But if you look into some of the things Google has done, they’re hideous too, in a different way. Their treatment of women in their organization is one pain point for me as a woman. There are numerous other issues.

This is why I am not immediately canceling Apple just as Apple is not immediately canceling China. I want to see Apple move out of China. I’m giving them some time to do so. I’m giving myself some time to see what the least odious options are that I have as a consumer whose modern life is unfortunately dependent on this ubiquitous technology. I’m not able to live like the Amish just yet.

So much of what surrounds us is made in China. We are so screwed.

 

[doboy]

I think you should hold your own protest, burn all your Apple products and move to Samsung.

Walk the walk

Haha, like Google and Samsung would stand up to Chinese gov.

 

[blacktape242]

all about the $$$$

 

[Jsameds]

No, access to an app isn't a human right.

 

[PlainviewX]

Would be a shame if these logos spread and got all of Apple's logos censored in China since their algorithm can't differentiate between them.

 

[s54]

I'm really ashamed of Apple.

Just like the NBA, they cater to an oppressive communist regime all in the sake of business. If China felt offended by any other app, no matter what realm or scope, Apple would also pull that app from the store. Meanwhile, China continues to rip off American products and poke fun at Americans daily without any repercussions whatsoever. If you've never been to China, I encourage you to go and experience this for yourself. You will be just another foreigner. And if you believe for one second that you've been a victim of "discrimination" having lived in the US, I can assure you that discrimination takes on a whole new meaning in mainland China. And I want to emphasize MAINLAND.

A totalitarian regime with the worst human rights violations on record should not dictate what others can and cannot say. HK people have every right to demand freedom from China, as do Taiwan and Tibet. And there's nothing wrong with supporting the Hong Kongese movement.

And let's get something straight, neither Apple nor the NBA offended Chinese people. They "offended" the Chinese Communist Party. The average Chinese citizen has absolutely no idea why the HK protests exist in first place. They've been brainwashed enough to think that it has something to do with Hongkongers being anti Chinese people. Because heaven forbid they know the truth about HK or the Tiananmen Square massacre. Yes, I said MASSACRE.

It's time for Apple to move their business outside of China and stop being ordered around by the CCP and its puppets. Speaking of the CCP, I'm sure there's no shortage of 50 cent army on these forums. So think twice before you engage in a dialog with someone.

 

[grad]

The problem worth discussing is not which government, China or USA, is the most totalitarian, or whether capitalism or capitalism care for the people; neither is democracy anyway. And If we were waiting from Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Alibaba, etc to save the world then we are doomed - worthy of our fate. I am too old to naively believe in white knights that will stand and fight for the good cause. I don't feel bad for these poor multibillion multinational companies if it seems like they are trying to balance between countries or systems. They are PART of the system, in many cases serving it, in other cases leading it. They play the same power game alongside the corrupt governments and organisations that rule the world. They are part of the problem and in many cases the cause of it.

Here we have a closed platform that people can/must not bypass/own or even downgrade, a platform that forces them to install apps only from ONE store; probably in the future forcing media and news only from ONE source as well. And even if Apple conflicts with itself on political and social matters, even if Facebook/Twitter sell away user data every day, even if Google terminates services without any notice, even if Samsung and HP sell million of buggy products, even if Cisco and Intel sell tampered products, people will still make all sort of excuses for them.

 

[vixster1901]

Disgrace.

Hopefully everyone in HK downloaded it before it got deleted.

Is there an app to share apps? that would be the thing to create now!

 

[jonnysods]

Didn't Timmy say that privacy is a fundamental human right?

 

[Rafterman]

"Letting poisonous software have its way is a betrayal of the Chinese people's feelings"

"Letting uncomfotable software have its way is a betrayal of a bunch of old men, terrified of losing power, and ending up like Romania's Ceausescu"

Fixed it for you.

 

[Khedron]

Didn't Timmy say that privacy is a fundamental human right?

That was just a prank bro