South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Apple pulls Hong Kong app under pressure from Beijing
HONG KONG — For people in Hong Kong angry over tactics used by the police to break up anti-government protests, the HKmap.live app was a handy little tool.
With real-time updates showing police movements, it helps steer users away from possible baton charges, volleys of tear gas and police ID checks.
For Apple Inc., that proved to be a problem.
Under pressure from Beijing, Apple removed the smartphone app from its online store Thursday.
In doing so, it immediately alienated some customers in Hong Kong, even those who haven’t been protesting in the streets these past four months.
The company said in a statement that it removed HKmap.live from its app store because it “has been used to target and ambush police” and “threaten public safety.”
“Criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement,” Apple said. “This app violates our guidelines and local laws, and we have removed it from the App Store.”
Apple phone user Canny Ng has taken to wearing black to express sympathy for the protesters though with a 6-month-old baby at home she’s followed the demonstrations on TV, not in the streets.
Apple’s decision was “not acceptable,” she said, adding she’ll think twice about buying more of the company’s products.
HKmap.live is “quite useful,” she said. “I just want to find a way that I won’t see any police, especially when I’m wearing black. You’re worried that, oh, maybe they will check your ID,” she said.
The existence of such an app shows “most of the Hong Kong people, maybe they’re really afraid of the police nowadays,” she said.
While no longer available for download, the app still works for users who had already downloaded it to their Apple devices. It also works on Android devices and in web browsers.
As of Thursday evening, it was still posting locations of police patrols and activities.
Apple acted under pressure from various channels, including the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily.
“Is Apple guiding Hong Kong thugs?” it asked.
Hong Kong office worker Acko Wong, 26, scoffed at the suggestion that the app helped give a free rein to criminals.
He said the argument that the app could be used to ambush police and point criminals to areas where police aren’t stationed “does not make sense.”
“How do you ambush a group of police with equipment and gear like helmets and shields?” he asked.
Wong said he downloaded the app to steer clear of “danger and traffic” during the many battles between protesters and police that have put Hong Kong on edge and prompted a government ban, enforceable by a 1-year prison sentence, on the face masks that many protesters wear to shield their identity.
“If you know there are many police in that area, I’m afraid they will arrest me for like wearing a mask or dressing in black or even if I’m young,” he told AP.