In a shocking move for a company that was once so interested in defending liberty and privacy that it stood up to the FBI and refused to crack into a terrorist’s phone, Apple appears to have taken the side of the CCP and done its best to work against dissidents in the country.
It did so in the form of an update that limits the use of AirDrop, something that “Whole Mars Catalog”, an EV news channel, discovered and posted about on Twitter, saying:
Apple has released a software update limiting the use of AirDrop in China in light of recent protests.
AirDrop was being used by protesters to transmit info directly phone to phone, bypassing the Great Firewall of China.
The tweet also included screenshots showing what the update was, as you can see here:
Apple has released a software update limiting the use of AirDrop in China in light of recent protests.
AirDrop was being used by protesters to transmit info directly phone to phone, bypassing the Great Firewall of China. pic.twitter.com/2UNtOeuTBZ
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) November 28, 2022
Another account confirmed the report, posting a screenshot of the airdop screen from a phone bought in China:
Bought my iPhone there last year, it’s true 😦 pic.twitter.com/Gzjh3XLDef
— Austin Miles (@AustinM81261123) November 28, 2022
Importantly, however, the update occurred earlier this month, before the protests. Yahoo reported on that, saying:
Anti-government protests flared in several Chinese cities and on college campuses over the weekend. But the country’s most widespread show of public dissent in decades will have to manage without a crucial communication tool, because Apple restricted its use in China earlier this month.
That changed on Nov. 9, when Apple released a new version of its mobile operating system, iOS 16.1.1, to customers worldwide. Rather than listing new features, as it often does, the company simply said, “This update includes bug fixes and security updates and is recommended for all users.”
Hidden in the update was a change that only applies to iPhones sold in mainland China: AirDrop can only be set to receive messages from everyone for 10 minutes, before switching off. There’s no longer a way to keep the “everyone” setting on permanently on Chinese iPhones. The change, first noticed by Chinese readers of 9to5Mac, doesn’t apply anywhere else.
Jordan Peterson, who Elon recently allowed back on Twitter, tweeted out something similar to what many who commented thought about Apple’s siding with the CCP, saying “What’s up @tim_cook? This whole free speech thing getting you down? @elonmusk”
Others responded by pointing out what the Chinese are doing to their subjects, with the scenes allegedly occurring there looking horrific and beyond the pale. One such video that is ostensibly of people being dragged off to quarantine camps (the video has not been authenticated) can be viewed below:
China. Apples and NBA friend https://t.co/gKhhlGUpsj
— allie🫐 (@AllieBlueberrys) November 29, 2022
The update is important because it makes it harder for the anti-lockdown protesters in China to communicate, which could crimp the recently intensifying protests. Reporting on those, the Wall Street Journal reported that:
Since the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, the ruling party has allowed some local demonstrations, but made it a priority to prevent nationwide protests.
On Saturday, videos circulating on social media showed crowds gathering on a street in central Shanghai calling for a lifting of lockdowns. The videos were verified by Storyful, a social-media research company owned by News Corp, parent company of The Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, Apple has also been working against free speech in America, with Elon Musk warning that Apple has threatened to remove Twitter from the app store, saying: “Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.“
Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
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