FCC Commissioner Criticizes Apple CEO Tim Cook Over App Store Censorship In China
FCC Commissioner Criticizes Apple CEO Tim Cook Over App Store Censorship In China
Authored by Frank Fang
via The Epoch Times, April 24, 2022
A Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner has accused Apple
CEO Tim Cook of hypocrisy, arguing that his
company’s dealings with the Chinese communist regime contradict his words about
commitment to human rights.
“I am
concerned that your words in Washington founder upon the harsh reality of your
actions in China,” Brendan Carr, the FCC’s senior Republican,
wrote in a letter to Cook dated
April 20.
Carr was referring to Cook’s keynote speech at
the 2022 International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) Global
Privacy Summit on April 12. During his speech, Cook spoke about how “privacy is
a fundamental human right” and touted Apple’s “commitment to protecting people
from a data industrial complex built on a foundation of surveillance.”
“Indeed,
at the very same time that you were speaking in D.C. about your App Store policies
promoting privacy and human rights, your company was continuing its
well-documented campaign in Beijing of aggressively censoring apps at the
behest of the Communist Party of China,” Carr
wrote.
According to Carr, Apple had done “the bidding of Communist
China” by removing Quran and Bible apps, and the Voice of America (VOA) mobile
app from its App Store in China. He described Apple’s decision to remove
the VOA app, which is congressionally funded, as “deeply troubling.”
In October 2021, Apple Censorship, a website that tracks apps on
Apple’s App Store globally, reported that
two apps, Quran Majeed and Bible App by Olive Tree, had been taken down. Apple
later told the BBC that
Chinese officials had said the apps contained “illegal” religious texts.
“Apple’s
decision to appease the Communist Party of China - an authoritarian regime that
the State Department has determined is committing genocide and crimes
against humanity - cannot be squared with your representation
in Washington that Apple will ‘battle against an array of dangerous actors,’” Carr
wrote.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) imposes strict control over
its internet and its censors regularly scrub online content that is deemed
unfavorable to the communist regime. Washington-based nonprofit Freedom House
called China “the world’s worst abuser of Internet freedom” in its Freedom on the Net
2021 report.
The Chinese regime also blocks many foreign
social media and news websites, including YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and
Voice of America.
Apple pulled the crowd-sourced app HKmap.live from
its App Store in October 2019, at the height of the pro-democracy movement in
Hong Kong. The map app was popular among Hong Kong protesters to avoid direct
confrontation with Hong Kong police, who have been heavily criticized for
their violent handling of protesters and journalists.
Carr also criticized global corporations such as Apple for
giving “all sorts of reasonable-sounding arguments” to justify their decisions
to do business in China. He said these arguments “run headlong into real-world
experience.”
In December 2021, The Information reported that
Cook traveled to China in 2016, lobbied Chinese officials, and secured a
secretive $275 billion deal with Beijing that involved more investments and
working training in China from Apple, citing internal Apple documents. The
five-year deal was made to “quash a sudden burst of [Chinese] regulatory
actions against Apple’s business.”
“China is not becoming more open or bending towards freedom
because Apple is doing business there. Far from it,” Carr wrote. “Look at Hong Hong.
Look at Xinjiang.
“Continuing to partner with brutal regimes like Communist
China only provides them with tacit—if not explicit—support and emboldens
those bad actors.”
Carr concluded his letter by asking Cook to answer a question by
April 29 this year.
“Will Apple allow access to the Voice of America mobile app
through its App Store in China, consistent with the fundamental human rights
that you articulated in your speech,” Carr asked.
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), who reposted Carr’s
letter, said she looks forward to hearing what Apple has to say
about Voice of America.
“Big Tech
companies like Apple love to profess one set of values to elitist crowds in the
U.S., but when push comes to shove, they’re quick to kowtow to the Chinese
Communist Party,” she wrote.
Apple officials didn’t respond by press time to a request by The
Epoch Times for comment.
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