Conclusion

Anticipating Beijing’s tightening grip on online speech and information in Hong Kong

It becomes increasingly difficult for tech companies to maintain their presence in Hong Kong while limiting their collaboration with the increasingly authoritarian government agencies and judiciary. Far from trying to stay away from the political crisis, let alone resist the abusive demands regarding individual’s data and moderation of online speech and information, Apple has taken proactive measures to curtail the fundamental freedoms of its employees and its users in order to avoid being perceived by Beijing as supportive of the pro-democracy movement. Apple did not wait the enactment of the NSL in 2020 to censor independent news and dissent voices on its devices and services.

However, the end of free speech in Hong Kong has not come yet. Hong Kongers still enjoy access to the vast majority of mobile apps on all platforms and can continue to exchange information privately and securely. Although surveillance has increased, so has fear (or suspicion) of surveillance. A significant portion of Hong Kongers are using VPNs and still enjoy access to most of them on their mobile.

Apple’s known about Beijing’s authoritarian preferences for decades. Apple’s response to the events in Hong Kong the last few years are not knee-jerk reactions. Apple’s response is aligned to its global business strategies, with a top priority of appeasing the Chinese government to protect Apple’s supply chain, distribution channels, and revenue stream.

A counter-example is ProtonMail which already posted in 2020 that it planned to keep its presence in Hong Kong as long as possible. CEO Andy Yen wrote, “We have always had concerns about such an outcome and have long designated Hong Kong as a high-risk country when it comes to VPN security. As a result, our policies for high-risk countries have long been in effect in Hong Kong, allowing us to mitigate certain risks.”

Yen elaborated, “In light of the significant challenges facing freedom of speech in Hong Kong today, the easiest (and by far cheapest) thing to do would be to shut down our server network there. However, at Proton, we have never focused on doing what is easy, but on doing what is right. Our longstanding policy is to leave countries rather than compromise our values. However, it is not our policy to leave without putting up a fight.” Yen also notes, “We have zero staff or physical presence in Hong Kong or China, which makes us less susceptible to pressure from Chinese authorities.”

Instead of limiting their presence in China, Apple has only increased it. Instead of designing products and business to avoid intervention by Beijing, Apple welcomes it. Instead of making contingency plans and implementing mitigations to avoid compromising user privacy and security, Apple shrugs off the populations of countries led by authoritarian governments as long as Apple makes a profit at the end.

Worse, is that Apple seems to be exploiting this dynamic with Hong Kong. The company appears to have done nothing to prepare for China overtaking Hong Kong, something most knew was imminent. Instead, it positioned as a middleman between Beijing and Hong Kongers’ access to information & digital expression. It sat in wait for Beijing to ask to pull the kill-switch on Hong Kong’s democracy, knowing that compliance would improve its relations with Beijing.

But it is not too late for Apple to clearly state how it will react if freedom of expression and information online are further suppressed. Hong Kongers deserve to know how Apple will react if and when Beijing starts issuing the same kind of app takedown requests it is routinely sending to Apple regarding mainland China’s App Store. Hong Kong residents’ fundamental rights and freedoms depend on that answer.