The agenda for Apple CEO Tim Cook’s trip to China last week included more than a meeting with the country’s top market regulator.
One day after the meeting, Cook became the new chairman of an advisory board for the economics school at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Apple CEO Tim Cook met with China’s chief market regulator Thursday, a trip likely to attract the tech giant more criticism as tensions fester between the mainland and Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.
Cook’s meeting in Beijing comes one week after it removed a live map app from the App Store that was being used by protestors. Cook said the app, HKmap.live, was pulled after Hong Kong officials presented “credible information” the app was used to target individuals and property with violence where no police were present.
Apple has reportedly removed the Quartz news app from the Chinese App Store by request of the China government. According to Quartz‘ investigations editor, this is due to their, “excellent coverage of ongoing Hong Kong protests.”
The company also banned an app that let Hong Kong protesters track Hong Kong police. This came one day after Chinese state media blasted Apple for not getting rid of it.
China’s state media took a swipe at Apple for allowing an app that let Hong Kong protesters track the location of police back into the App Store. The app, called Hkmap Live, uses reports from a Telegram group to share information about things like arrests and the use of weapons such as tear gas.
Apple originally booted the app from the App Store, but apparently reversed its decision.
Apple has booted an app used by protesters in Hong Kong out of the App Store. Called Hkmap Live, the crowdsourced app uses reports from a Telegram group that tracks the whereabouts of police and protesters. It also contains information about things like arrests of people wearing protest-related paraphernalia and the use of weapons like tear gas.
“Your app contains content – or facilitates, enables, and encourages an activity – that is not legal,” Apple told the app makers. “Specifically, the app allowed users to evade law enforcement.”
