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China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

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101–110 of 217 posts

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#101

That didn’t take long. NBA, American Airlines, Blizzard, Marriot.. the list grows. Soon they will have to ban rest of the 6 billion people.

I wonder how much of this is because they know there is going to be a crash soon and need to consolidate power and control the narrative internally before it happens

[deleted]

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#102
post #79

Weird. Yesterday, people on here were accusing Apple of bowing to the Chinese for this exact same app.

It's not weird. Apple reversed their decision and allowed the app on the App Store. Now they are facing veiled threats from Chinese state media for doing the right thing.

How is that not weird? The posts from yesterday were after the app had already been approved and released. And, unless someone has a source that says otherwise, it seems very likely that the app rejection was automatic and had nothing to do with the political implications being ascribed to it.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt it. This is just, like, my opinion, man, but I think the Chinese would walk away from any company in the world in an instant if it suits their security needs. If their economic ministry is doing its job then they will have detailed contingency plans to address the loss of any of their major foreign benefactors, and if required those jobs can be replaced with state handouts, at least until the crisis passes. I…

If I were Tim Cook I'd be real worried about being shut out of my own supply chain right about now. Didn't Apple start ramping up iPhone production in India recently? I agree that China is likely to retaliate but I imagine whatever decision making process there was for approving this HK app involved plenty of lawyers and analysis of potential fallout.

Many companies are ramping up electronics production outside of China as a hedge against tariffs.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#104
post #5

Apple will most likely be fine because it's unlike any other western company operating in China in that it employs a lot of people assembling their products. It's not in the CCP's interest for people to boycott Apple in a nationalist fervor only for unemployment to rise, which would be an existential threat to the CCP if they lost control of.

I doubt it. This is just, like, my opinion, man, but I think the Chinese would walk away from any company in the world in an instant if it suits their security needs. If their economic ministry is doing its job then they will have detailed contingency plans to address the loss of any of their major foreign benefactors, and if required those jobs can be replaced with state handouts, at least until the crisis passes. I…

China is never going to mess with Apple in any significant way. Not only would it be cutting off their nose to spite their face in terms of unemployment, it would immediately lead to capital flight out of China which they absolutely can't afford.

It'd basically undermine the entire economic model that has led to China's rise out of poverty over the past 30-40 years.

And Apple is such a high profile company that it would likely cause an international incident.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#105
Happy to see Apple caught in such a difficult situation. They insist on being the sole arbiter of what software a user is allowed to install on their device, so this is their burden to bear. They could at any point give up their walled garden approach to iOS, but they won't, so they're dragged into this impossible situation of appeasing CCP or appeasing the rest of the world.

FWIW I'm happy they've chosen to allow the app (although at first they didn't), but the whole situation really brings the consequences of controlling a user's device to light. I hope it changes.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#106
post #5

Apple will most likely be fine because it's unlike any other western company operating in China in that it employs a lot of people assembling their products. It's not in the CCP's interest for people to boycott Apple in a nationalist fervor only for unemployment to rise, which would be an existential threat to the CCP if they lost control of.

> Apple will most likely be fine because it's unlike any other western company operating in China in that it employs a lot of people assembling their products. It's not in the CCP's interest for people to boycott Apple in a nationalist fervor only for unemployment to rise, which would be an existential threat to the CCP if they lost control of.

The CCP isn't going to compromise on its core authoritarian and nationalist values over a piddling concern about the unemployment caused by one Western company leaving. Apple's not that important, and my guess is the problems caused by the trade war dwarf any effect Apple could cause.

Also, I doubt they like Apple much anyway, and they would probably welcome the disruption to Apple that it would experience during a pullout. Might create opportunities for Huawei or Oppo.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#107

Happy to see Apple caught in such a difficult situation. They insist on being the sole arbiter of what software a user is allowed to install on their device, so this is their burden to bear. They could at any point give up their walled garden approach to iOS, but they won't, so they're dragged into this impossible situation of appeasing CCP or appeasing the rest of the world. FWIW I'm happy they've chosen to allow th…

I've always accepted their walled-garden philosophy as a security measure, but you know, I'm realizing that it doesn't have to be either-or. They can continue to hold App Store listings to high standards of security and quality, and I'll continue to use it when that's what I want, while allowing people the option of side-loading at their own risk. Most of the problems with malicious apps on Android don't happen because of side-loading, they happen because of Google's terrible moderation of the Play store.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#108
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a big difference. US is not gonna ban Google or Waze. China might actually ban Apple tomorrow. There are no courts to appeal. There is no retort. Just the decision of one man.

One man? If you are just trying to sound dramatic, sure. However, I'd urge that you go and actually read more about how CCP works and the actual reaction of Chinese people on Weibo and other Chinese social media. The reaction to NBA and Hong Kong is not merely the government's manipulation, tho I'm sure there are some being done. When people see the news and make a judgement, it's often times the judgement the media…

> the actual reaction of Chinese people on Weibo and other Chinese social media

Why do you think those people react that way? Nobody is born with an opinion. What politics they were exposed to growing up? What did the schools teach them? What behaviour did the government punish, what did it allow? Which information sources where they given access to? Are the "actual Chinese people" who disagree with the party allowed to share their thoughts on Weibo without fear?

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#109
post #80
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does standing up for Hong Kong mean to you. What could Trump do to help? Generally curious.

Just recognizing HK and Taiwan as separate countries from China would be big.

Recognizing HK as independent would be a huge step, and one even the UK didn't take.

Re: China attacks Apple for allowing Hong Kong crowdsourced police activity app

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Apple didn't cave to the US government, what makes you think they're going to cave to China?

If Apple didn't cave to the US government, what makes you think they're going to cave to China? Because it has, occasionally, in the past. Apple doesn't have a perfect record when it comes to China. It's OK. I'm not sure I'd call it "good." But between the Taiwan flag emoji, and the Chinese iCloud fiasco, my esteem for Apple is at an all-time low.

Apple is required to follow the laws of the region in which their product is used so both of those scenarios aren't Apple "caving" to China. Apple is just following what they have to do for their software in those cases. In this case, it's someone else's software and they chose not to "cave" because there's no obligation on their part to take action since the app doesn't break any rules or laws.
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