“China slams Apple’s decision to allow police tracking app for Hong Kong protesters”, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
ABC/Reuters,October 6, 2019
The Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper, the People’s Daily, has lashed out at Apple Inc over an app that tracks the movement of police around Hong Kong and is used by protesters in ongoing and sometimes violent demontrations.
Key points:
- Apple had initially rejected the app saying it contained illegal content
- The People’s Daily said Apple did not have a sense of right and wrong
- The NBA and US sports brand Vans have also been embroiled in controversies over the protests
In a commentary, the newspaper did not mention the name of the location app, available via Apple’s online store, but it decried what it said was the company’s complicity in helping the protesters and questioned whether it was “thinking clearly”.
One such map that is available through Apple, HKmap.live, has become a lightning rod on Twitter for criticism and support of the protests.
The app shows locations of transport and road closures and police presence, with a symbol of a dog to represent danger from police actions such as tear gas.
Apple had initially rejected the app, saying it contained illegal content, but had since reserved that decision and added HKmap.live to the Apple store on October 5, according to the South China Morning Post.
The developer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a series of tweets on Saturday, the developer said that Apple had “many business considerations” but had “finally made the right decision”.
Apple is the latest foreign company to catch heat in relation to the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, which have lasted four months.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) and US sports brand Vans also have become embroiled in controversies over the protests.
The piece on the website of the People’s Daily said Apple did not have a sense of right and wrong and ignored the truth.
Making the app available on Apple’s Hong Kong site was “opening the door” to violent protesters in the former British colony, it said.
“Letting poisonous software have its way is a betrayal of the Chinese people’s feelings,” the paper said.
The app uses crowdsourced information to track police locations, alerting users to police vehicles, armed officers and incidents in which people have been injured.
Apple did not respond to a request for a comment.
Protests broke out across Hong Kong in early June over a now-shelved extradition bill that activists said was an example of how Hong Kong’s freedoms and citizen rights were being eroded.
The movement has since snowballed into an anti-China campaign with demands for direct elections for the city’s leaders and police accountability.