Apple CEO has defended the move to remove Hkmap.live from Apple's app store
Apple CEO Tim Cook has defended the company's decision to pull down the Hkmap.live app which was allegedly being used by the Hong Kong protestors to track the police movement.
Apple has been on the receiving end of criticism for its decision to remove Hkmap.live mobile application following pressure from Beijing.
Now, in an e-mail to the company's employees Tim Cook said, "Over the past several days we received credible information, from the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau, as well as from users in Hong Kong, that the app was being used maliciously to target individual officers for violence and to victimize individuals and property where no police are present. This use put the app in violation of Hong Kong law. Similarly, widespread abuse clearly violates our App Store guidelines barring personal harm." The mail was published by a tech website on its platform
The HKmap.live app crowdsources the location of both police and protestors and was being used by protestors to keep track of police movement.
The decision came after the Chinese state-run People's Daily newspaper criticized Apple for allowing the application to be used on its platform. The app was removed from Apple’s app store on Thursday, it also removed BackupHK app which served as a mirror application for the HKmap.live app
Meanwhile, the developers of Hkmap.live have criticized Apple for censoring and curbing its freedom. They also denied any accusations of their app being used to target police and disrupting public safety.
Apple has also pulled down Quartz’s app from the app store for its coverage of the Hong Kong protests.
