In the weeks leading up to the protests against the Chinese regime’s harsh COVID-19 policies, Apple had restricted access to the popular file-sharing tool AirDrop.
Following the updated operating system, AirDrop can only be configured to receive messages from everyone for just 10 minutes before switching off. Typically, AirDrop users could choose to receive files from everyone—contacts and non-contacts—for an unlimited time. Before the changes were completed, the “everyone” setting could have been turned on permanently on Chinese iPhones.
The file-sharing feature, which is available on iPhones and other Apple devices, has been a critical tool for protesters to avoid censorship in authoritarian states. Hong Kong protesters employed the communication tool to bypass China’s so-called Great Firewall so that they could deliver crucial messages to the public and ensure that other protesters stayed in touch.
AirDrop was designed to be a program that depends on direct connections between phones, which forms a local network of devices without relying on the internet to communicate.
Chinese Protests Hurting Apple’s Bottom Line?
The protests that have occurred across the country may financially impact Apple. It has been estimated that the company could lose as much as $8 billion in revenues because of production shortfalls that could total as many as 8 million units in the December quarter, according to Evercore ISI.Seventy percent of Apple’s global iPhone production occurs at the Zhengzhou factory, where Foxconn assembles the smartphone. For days, employees have been clashing with security personnel, prompting Foxconn to offer higher wages and large bonuses to incentivize workers to return to the plant.
Elon Musk, Twitter, and Censorship
Twitter owner Elon Musk accused Apple of online censorship, claiming that the Cupertino-based company has “threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store” without explaining why.Musk also published a poll asking if “Apple should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers.” After more than 2.2 million votes, 85 percent voted, “Yes.”
The social media giant stopped enforcing its COVID-19 “misleading information” policy on Nov. 23, with the company reporting that nearly 100,000 pieces of content were removed from the platform with more than 11,000 account suspensions.
Musk said on Nov. 29 that Twitter’s internal files on the company’s “free speech suppression” will be revealed “soon,” raising expectations that light will be shed on the firm’s opaque actions in blocking content and banning accounts.
Industry observers say that Apple’s app review department might be paying close attention to Twitter. App Store guidelines mandate that apps with user-generated content must maintain strong content moderation systems, which allowed Apple to ditch conservative social networks Gab and Parler. Since taking over Twitter, Musk has significantly reduced the content moderation team and overhauled policies.
Moreover, Musk called out Apple’s rule that requires app developers to pay between 15 percent and 30 percent for digital purchases. If he tries to circumvent this fee, which others have done in the past to no avail, Apple could remove Twitter from the App Store.