Apple pulled from its App Store an app that lets Hong Kong protesters see the location of police in real time, a move that comes a day after the tech giant was attacked by Chinese state media for making the product available for download.
The California-based company said it decided to remove the app, HKmap.live, from the App Store after learning it put law enforcement and Hong Kong residents in danger. Apple said customers contacted the company about the app, and the tech firm conducted an investigation into it.
“The app displays police locations and we have verified with the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau 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. This app violates our guidelines and local laws, and we have removed it from the App Store,” Apple said in a statement.
Apple blocked HKmap.live from the App Store earlier this month but made it available for download on the platform last week. The reversal from the iPhone maker prompted the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party to accuse the company of “providing a gateway for ‘toxic apps’” and aiding Hong Kong protesters.
The article in the People’s Daily warned that Apple and other corporations “need to know that only the prosperity of China and China’s Hong Kong will bring them a broader and more sustainable market.”
A Twitter account that purportedly belongs to HKmap.live denied Apple’s claim that it had been used to target police and noted many reviews of the app suggest it “improved public safety, not the opposite.”
“We once believed that the App rejection is simply a bureaucratic f up, but now it is clearly a political decision to suppress freedom and human right in #HongKong,” HKmap.live said in a series of tweets. “It is disappointing to see US corps such as @Apple, @NBA, @Blizzard_Ent, @TiffanyAndCo act against #freedom.”
8. We once believed the App rejection is simply a bureaucratic f up, but now it is clearly a political decision to suppress freedom and human right in #HongKong. It is disappointing to see US corps such as @Apple, @NBA, @Blizzard_Ent, @TiffanyAndCo act against #freedom
— HKmap.live 全港抗爭即時地圖 (@hkmaplive) October 10, 2019
The app developer also noted HKmap.live is used by passersby, protesters, journalists, tourists, and pro-government supporters.
“It might be hard for people outside to imagine tear gases in your neighborhood, train station, or your go-to shopping mall, but ~5000 of them is fired since June,” HKmap.live tweeted.
10. HKmap is used by passerby, protesters, journalist, tourist, and even pro-government supporters. It might be hard for people outside to imagine tear gases in your neighborhood, train station, or your go-to shopping mall, but ~5000 of them is fired since June.
— HKmap.live 全港抗爭即時地圖 (@hkmaplive) October 10, 2019
Apple is the latest American company to find itself in the middle of tensions between anti-government protesters in Hong Kong and Beijing. The tech behemoth relies heavily on China as a manufacturing base, as it makes most of its products there, and reported $32.5 billion in sales in the greater China region for the nine months ending June 29.
This week, the NBA has been navigating backlash from China after Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, tweeted support for the Hong Kong protest movement. In response to the message, the Chinese Basketball Association severed ties with the team and Chinese sports officials canceled a fan event set to take place in Shanghai.
Blizzard Entertainment, a video game developer, also banned a professional gamer from competitions for a year and revoked his prize money after the gamer, Ng Wai Chung, who goes by Blitzchung, voiced support for the Hong Kong protesters.
