Using a VPN, I tried a few of these. In Taiwan, Apple was fine with the symbol for “person” or “human,” but not for “rights,” to make “human rights.” Screenshot from Apple.com/tw
Apple claims they follow local laws. Simultaneously, in a seemingly contradictory statement, they’ve also claimed they would fight any government interference in their tool to fight abusive content featuring minors. It turns out neither is completely true. Apple follows the money.
The Citizen Lab, a Toronto-based research institute, found Apple had applied their Chinese censorship rules to Hong Kong and Taiwan. Neither Hong Kong, a former British colony that has since gone back to China under the rules that it would have some self-governance, nor Taiwan, a democratic nation not beholden to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), should be under the control of China’s censorship. Instead, it seems Apple has brought Chinese censorship to the to these regions. The PRC claims both, and has threatened relations with nations that formally support Hong Kong’s fight for democracy or Taiwan’s status as a nation separate from the PRC.
Could Apple have caved to the more wealthy nation to force the laws of one country on other, independent regions? It certainly seems so.
8964
June 4th, 1989 or 8964 for short in some eastern regions. The date is significant because it was the date of the Tiananmen Square massacre, when the Chinese government used the army to murder thousands of their own citizens at a protest for democracy. The date is one that China forbids its citizens from discussing. They’re outright afraid to admit they know the significance of the day. Obviously the United States does not have such restrictions. Neither does Hong Kong or Taiwan. However, Apple customers in mainland China cannot engrave these numbers. While that censorship didn’t reach Taiwan, other forms did.
In both China and Hong Kong, you can’t ask Apple to engrave “新聞自由,” which means “freedom of the press.” In Hong Kong and China, Apple will block “Umbrella Revolution” or “double universal suffrage,” that is, free elections for the city of Hong Kong as well as its leader. You also can’t reference Chinese leadership in China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan, like Mao Zedong or Xi Jinping.
While Taiwan and Hong Kong have fewer censored words than China, they’re still higher than those in Japan, Canada, or the United States. These censored word lists seem to come from China. Apple says they decide censored words on a per-region basis, not on the basis of language, to avoid nuances. For example, in the United States “Fanny Pack” means a small bag worn on the waist. It’s… uh… different in The U.K. Therefore, the fact that Hong Kong and Taiwan both use Chinese shouldn’t make it follow the rules of mainland China.
Censorship Beyond Legal Obligations
The text, translated via Google, says, “Please resubmit your engraved message. Create your personal style with your nickname, lucky numbers and favorite emoticons.” This was a Chinese politician’s name, blocked in Taiwan. Screenshots from Apple.com/tw
Apple doesn’t have to censor these words or phrases in Hong Kong and Taiwan. In fact, doing so borders on a violation of the freedom of speech of the citizens of these democratic regions. Hong Kong has been in the midst of protests to protect democracy and a takeover from mainland China for years now. Meanwhile, Taiwan considers itself the “true” China. It’s official name is the Republic of China (not to be confused with mainland China, the People’s Republic of China). China considers it a splinter state that should rejoin China, and gets very upset when anyone insinuates that the autonomous, sovereign country of Taiwan should have autonomy by referring to it as a sovereign nation. Very upset. It’s possible the Chinese government would ask Apple to export China’s censorship rules to Hong Kong and Taiwan, two regions they believe they can control.
None of this is legally necessary to operate in China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan. Apple is going beyond the requirements of any laws in order to keep this speech off of their products. Is someone really going to put political slogans or politician names on their iPad or AirTags? Unlikely. But the fact is, in more free nations, they can’t, possibly because of China’s influence over Apple. China is home to many of Apple’s factories, and, while there has been an anti-Apple sentiment among the nation’s populace due to Apple’s American origin, Apple does a lot of business in the nation. Apple relies on China, not the other way around. As a result, they’ll bend over backwards for the nation.
Apple has pulled VPN apps and limited the apps that can be found in China in other ways. All of this makes critics doubt Apple’s dedication to privacy when it comes to their anti-CSAM technology, as governments can use it to track citizens. Apple has already made concessions for governments for privacy and freedom of speech. It’s hard to believe they wouldn’t continue to do so in the future. Now they’ve been caught exporting the oppression of one nation into other nations. Just how dedicated is Apple to its consumers?
Sources:
- Shen Lu, Protocol
- Mike Peterson, AppleInsider
- James Vincent, The Verge