Hong Kong’s App Store

Overview

July 2021 Measurements

by AppleCensorship’s App Store Monitor (ASM)

On November 1, 2021, AppleCensorship published its first overview report on the App Store. Studying the unavailability of apps in the 155 App Stores operated by Apple and based on the data collected by the App Store Monitor (ASM), we estimated no less than 29 million cases of app unavailability in Apple’s App Stores.

Although there are discrepancies in availability of apps between App Stores - a fact which quashes the very idea of a unique App Store - we found that the average percentage of app unavailability (the ratio between the number of apps tested in a given App Store to the proportion of apps which were found to be unavailable in that App Store) among all 155 App Stores, was around 10% (10.46%).

App Store Monitor (ASM)

Apps Unavailability Per Category - Hong Kong’s App Store - July 2021

Total Number of Unavailable Apps: 550 | Ratio of Unavailability: 8,63%

Unavailable apps in Hong Kong’s App Store (July 2021). Source: “Censored on the App Store” Report (pages 12 – 13) / Nov 1, 2022 Press release

From 6,374 tested Apps, 550 Apps were detected as unavailable.

• 6 App Stores out of 155 had between 4000 and 7000 apps tested. Only Hong Kong’s App Store had more than 500 unavailable apps.
• Hong Kong’s App Store showed the 10th best unavailability percentage out of 155 App Stores.
• Only 10 App Stores were found to have from 400 to over 500 unavailable apps (405 to 550).

Despite a high number of unavailable apps, Hong Kong’s App Store remained among the App Stores with the smallest ratio of unavailable apps. As expected in this first overview, it was determined that, for the vast majority of App Stores, the more apps were tested, the smaller their unavailability percentage was getting. In July 2021, few App Stores had more than 4000 apps tested for availability.

All July 2021 results are available here

List of unavailable apps in Hong Kong’s App Store detected by the ASM (August 2021)

Hong Kong’s App Store VS. China’s App Store

On December 31, 2021, AppleCensorship conducted a series of tests in Hong Kong’s App Store in order to compare it with mainland China’s App Store. For that purpose, all apps unavailable in China on December 31, 2021 were tested in Hong Kong’s App Store. Although this approach has some limitations (e.g. after the tests, the total number of apps tested in Hong Kong and China, as well as the IDs of the apps tested, would still be significantly different), the purpose was to eliminate the possibility that China’s App Store’s high number and high unavailability rate was only explained by the fact that China had (with the U.S. App Store) the most amount of apps tested overall. The hypothesis that testing all the apps unavailable in China would make any App Store resemble China’s App Store, was to be eliminated.

On December 31, 2021, slightly more than 32,000 apps had been tested in China’s App Store out of which, 8526 (almost 27%) were unavailable at the time. In Hong Kong’s App Store, more than 7,000 apps had been tested and 854 apps were unavailable at the time.

Testing all China’s App Store’s unavailable apps in Hong Kong’s App Store - 12/31/2021

After testing all 8,526 apps from China’s list of unavailable apps, in Hong Kong’s App Store, Hong Kong’s App Store percentage of unavailability increased significantly: from 11.68% to 17.38% (+5.70%). The main observations and interpretations that can be drawn from the results (cf. Table above) are as follows:

• Although it was not the target of the experiment, but was only used as a source for the apps to be tested, China’s App Store was impacted by this series of tests, as the ASM updated the status of many apps that had not been tested for weeks or months in the App Store. As some were found to no longer exist (approximately 200 “disappeared apps”), the figures for China’s App Store have decreased after the test session.
• China’s App Store’s specific level of restrictions is marked by the relatively low percentage of “local apps” (about 30%) among unavailable apps. Hong Kong’s App Store remains relatively free compared to China’s App Store, with a majority of apps possibly being “local apps” (around 73%).
• After testing 8,526 apps in Hong Kong’s App Store, the number of total apps tested apps increased by 5,725, indicating that approximately 2,800 apps from the test list were already tested in Hong Kong’s App Store and were therefore not added to the number “unique existing apps” tested in that Store.
• The assumption that Hong Kong’s list of unavailable apps increased because it integrated a significant number of “local apps”, (apps only available in one or two App Stores) proved to be partly false. In fact, the proportion of unavailable ‘local apps’ in Hong Kong’s App Store (73.65% before the tests) remained constant after all the 8,526 apps were tested (73.87%). This indicates that the increased percentage of unavailability is also due to apps that are available in 3 or more App Stores.
• Moreover, if the 2,241 apps labeled as “local apps” in China’s App Store’s list of unavailable apps, were indeed local apps, they should all have been added to Hong Kong’s list of unavailable apps (as they would be equally unavailable there). The fact that Hong Kong’s App Store’s number of “local apps” increased by less than half of that number, shows many apps were not in fact local apps. Although this is merely a correction of a methodological flaw (apps can only be definitely labeled as “local apps” once they have been tested in all existing App Stores), this confirms China’s App Store’s specificity.
• This series of tests indicates that, despite still being far from reaching the level of restrictions observed in China’s App Store, Hong Kong’s App Store is more restrictive than we initially thought. Additional testing focusing on relevant apps categories could further raise Hong Kong’s App Store’s percentage of unavailability.

App Takedown Requests

On April 21, 2022, AppleCensorship published a report, “Taken Down: A Look into Apple’s Transparency Reports”, exposing how Apple carefully engineered its Transparency Reports to conceal as much information as possible on app removals from the 175 App Stores it operates worldwide.

Dissecting the four Transparency Reports covering “Worldwide Government App Store Takedown Requests” from January 2019 until December 2020, AppleCensorship uncovered scores of missing data, incoherence and contradictory information presented in the most deceptive way, making it impossible for the public to have a clear understanding of Apple’s government-led and proactive removals of apps from its App Stores. In presenting such reports as its effort to be transparent to the public, Apple is deceiving its users and the public on the reality of its takedown policy, both in terms of its nature and true scale.

Hong Kong did not appear in the list of countries’ governments which requested apps to be taken down from their App Store or globally. However, one particular case comes as a contradiction to Apple’s data showing no requests from Hong Kong authorities.

In October 2019, one app in particular made the news after being removed by Apple at the request of the Hong Kong police: HKmap.live. The navigation app constitutes a particularly salient example of Apple’s misleading self-reporting and willingness to enable repressive governance. (read more on this case)

HKmap.live allowed users to report and view the locations and crowd control measures of police across Hong Kong. Although the app does not appear in the transparency report relevant to the period - indeed Hong Kong appears in no transparency report since their first publication - Apple did acknowledge its removal of the app from Hong Kong’s App Store after the police confirmed it enabled the committing of crimes.

In a statement sent to the press, Apple wrote:

“We have verified with the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau (CSTCB) that the app has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement, (…) This app violates our guidelines and local laws, and we have removed it from the App Store.”

Despite Apple removing the app at the behest of the authorities, Hong Kong did not appear in Apple’s Transparency Reports. As the firm states in its reports, it only counts requests that follow the “official” procedure of the “Government App Store Takedown Requests” mechanism, procedures which have never been made public.

This case opens the possibility that other apps may have been (or may be) removed from Hong Kong’s App Store following “unofficial” requests from Hong Kong government agencies, or following requests that are later attributed to mainland China’s government in Apple’s Transparency Reports. Doing so would allow Apple to conceal specific cases of political censorship in the high number of app takedown requests emanating from China, as such a tactic has been documented in “Taken Down: A Look into Apple’s Transparency Reports”.

November 2022 Measurements

by AppleCensorship’s App Store Monitor (ASM)

App Store Monitor (ASM)

Apps Unavailability Per Category - Hong Kong’s App Store - November 2022

Total Number of Unavailable Apps: 2,370 | Ratio of Unavailability: 16,03%

From 14,782 tested Apps, 2,370 Apps were detected as unavailable.

• 5 App Stores out of 155 have more than 14,000 apps tested for availability.
• Hong Kong’s App Store ranks 158th out of 173 App Stores in terms of apps’ unavailability.
• Only Russia’s and China’s App Stores have more unavailable apps than Hong Kong’s App Store. (Russia: 2,754 ; China: 10,837)

All November 2022 results are avaialble here

Targeted Censorship: Categorical Bans

One of the main obstacles to producing a complete picture of Apple’s policing of the App Store is the absence of information and figures for apps removed regionally due to governments targeting of certain categories of apps or blanket restrictions requested by said governments.

While Apple communicates (poorly) on government requests relating to one or more specific apps, they do not disclose the number of apps removed due to governments requesting that Apple reject or take down all apps of a particular kind or category. In fact, this type of removal is barely acknowledged by Apple.

Blanket restrictions allow governments to ensure the removal or rejection of apps by Apple without having to issue a request for every app it wants to ban. Those restrictions lead to “proactive removals”: app removals or rejections initiated by Apple itself, in accordance to concealed blanket restrictions or for other politically motivated reason, such as Apple trying to avoid the ire of a government. As it has been confirmed by the New York Times in the case of China, Apple does elaborate blacklists of content that should not be uploaded in specific App Stores.

Indeed, documents from a lawsuit by a former Apple’s employee working as an App Store app reviewer has revealed that Apple keeps a “Chinese App Store Removal wiki page” that tracks an “Apple China blacklist” and that Apple has a software program that tags any apps mentioning keywords from the blacklist.

Like in China’s App Store, patterns of app removals from Hong Kong’s App Store detected by the ASM could suggest that specific groups of apps are targeted by the Chinese authorities (in Hong Kong or in Beijing) and/or that such system of Apple-enforced bans and proactive removals are in place in Hong Kong’s App Store. At present time, although some patterns could indicate a worrying trend towards more restrictions, no systematic ban of a specific category of apps has been detected in Hong Kong’s App Store.

Sensitive Categories of Apps in Hong Kong

AppleCensorship monitors specific ad hoc “categories” of sensitive apps. The following categorical lists of apps currently unavailable in Hong Kong’s App Store are composed of apps which have a higher probability of having been censored by Apple.

A selection of unavailable apps in Hong Kong’s App Store was made and the selected apps were regrouped in four categories of potentially “sensitive” apps : “Dating, Relationship and LGBTQ+ Related”, “Information, Media, News, TV & Radio”, “VPNs & Private Browsers, Digital Security & Privacy”, and “Social Media & Communication Tools”. A fifth category, “Miscellaneous”, has been created to regroup other types of apps in small numbers and apps which are not by nature sensitive, but for which information on availability worldwide seems to indicate geo-blocking in Hong Kong’s App Store.

Dating, Relationship and LGBTQ+ Related Apps

In the summer of 2022, Hong Kong’s crackdown on social activism is threatening to undo progress for gay rights, once considered validation of the city’s reputation as Asia’s liberal, financial haven. Well-known LGBTQ figures, including former lawmakers and singers, have been arrested or jailed for their political activism. The national security law imposed following the violent protests of 2019 has also exacerbated the pandemic’s restrictive impact, forcing the suspension of the annual Pride marches and prompting human rights lawyers to leave the city.

Information, Media, News, TV & Radio Apps

The crackdown on independent media in Hong Kong, which has accelerated after the adoption of the NSL in 2020, is perhaps the most serious signal of deterioration of the political situation and human rights in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s App Store does not reflect the seismic shift in Hong Kong’s media landscape, as the crackdown on the press was not decided in the App Store and several media were shut down entirely (including their app, as collateral damage). Future app removals targeting press freedom and freedom of information may occur but will likely affect apps belonging to “social networking” categories.

VPNs & Private Browsers, Digital Security & Privacy Apps

In 2017, Apple admitted removing more than six hundreds VPN apps from China’s App Store. Apple’s opaque policies were later exposed. It was revealed that the firm was In fact removing all foreign VPN apps which did not give the Chinese authorities access to their users’ data. Only a few VPN apps remain in mainland China’s App Store, and all operate under the surveillance of the police and the Cyberspace Administration of China.

While many VPN apps remain in the App Store, including the most popular ones, a considerable number of VPN apps seem to have been removed from Hong Kong’s App Store, following the adoption of the NSL.

China's Great Firewall is now in Hong Kong. Internet providers in HK have started censorship under Beijing's National Security Law. On this sad day, ProtonVPN supports online freedom in HK, and will continue to provide uncensored internet around the world: https://t.co/p9tuNhJMIJ

— Proton VPN (@ProtonVPN) January 15, 2021

The ASM data could indicate that some VPN companies have already begun self-censoring with the passing of the National Security Law, or that Apple may have been requested to remove specific VPNs from its App Store.

As Beijing continues to crack down on Hong Kongers’ right to access information freely, VPNs ensure that they will always have a looking glass into the content that may get removed. If more VPN apps are removed from Hong Kong, or if Beijing requests that Apple enforce a systematic categorical ban on VPNs, as it currently does in China, that looking glass could disappear quickly.

Social Media & Communication Tools

Hong Kong’s access to the main social media platforms remains intact. But recent events ; In August 2022, The Hong Kong Police Force has rebranded its public relations branch and introduced a 24-hour mechanism to monitor online “smearing” of police work.

Miscellaneous

The following includes apps which did not fit in other categories or apps which are not particularly sensitive apps, but of which the large availability worldwide could indicate a deliberate removal from Hong Kong’s App Store (or an intended unavailability from the day the app was released in the App Store).

Disappeared Hong Kong Apps

The ASM also records, in a table called “Disappeared Apps”, apps that are removed from all App Stores operated by Apple. Such global removals can only be interpreted as follows:

• Either the app’s owner / developer decided to pull the app from all App Stores,

or

• Apple decided to remove the app from all its App Stores because of a Platform Policy violation (i.e. violation of the App Store Guidelines). The determination of such violation can be the result from a request from a third party entity, such as a government agency or private company.

As it emphasizes in its Transparency Reports, Apple can receive “Platform Policy Violation Takedown Requests” (PPVTR) from governments and their agencies. What Apple does not explain, however, is that such Platform Policy violations requests can also come from private actors and, more importantly, that the vast majority of removals following alleged breaches of Platform Policy is instigated by Apple itself. However, Apple’s Transparency Reports do not report worldwide removals when the takedown requests originate from private entities or when these removals are made autonomously by Apple. (see “Taken Down: A Look into Apple’s Transparency Reports” for more information on Platform Policy Violation Takedown Requests).

Between January 2019 and December 2020, the ASM recorded no fewer than 6458 apps that were removed from all 155 regional App Stores (175 in H2 2020, although the ASM was only monitoring the 155 App Stores at the time). That’s the equivalent of 1 million removals if we assume that all apps were originally available in all App Stores.

Below are some of the apps disappeared during that two years period and which are related to Hong Kong in various ways (e.g. a Hong Kong TV app, map of Hong Kong, etc.) Contrary to apps that are removed from a specific App Store, “Disappeared Apps” do not in themselves suggest targeted censorship. Only by gathering information on the apps and their publishers can it be determined conclusively whether a specific app’s disappearance results from censorship or whether it follows reasons unrelated to censorship.

Hong Kong Maps Apps

Hong Kong News Apps

Hong Kong Radio Apps

Hong Kong TV Apps

App Store Case Studies

In October 2019, Apple made a flurry of changes to its software in Hong Kong that brought the company in line with the Chinese government, which was cracking down on pro-democracy protesters. It removed the HKmap.live app, used Hong Kong protesters to evade police officers. Apple spokesman Fred Sainz defended the move at the time, saying that the company had been contacted by “many concerned customers in Hong Kong” about the app. Apple had heard from the Hong Kong police that the app had been used to “target and ambush police,” Sainz said then.

Using the App Store Monitor at the end of 2020, the Tech Transparency Project identified 35 applications relating to Hong Kong that were unavailable on China’s App Store. Of the 35 apps, 16 were news publications, four were specific to the Hong Kong independence efforts, six were Hong Kong-specific communication platforms, and the remaining nine were miscellaneous Hong Kong-specific apps for entertainment applications, shopping, etc.

HKmap.live (2019): Undefendable Removal

1. We disagree @Apple and @hkpoliceforce 's claim that HKmap App endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong.#HKmap #HKmaplive #HK #Censorship

— HKmap.live 全港抗爭即時地圖 HK Protest Live Map (@hkmaplive) October 10, 2019

Today I wrote to Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, to tell him his company’s decision to remove HKmap live app from Appstore will cause problems for normal Hong Kong’s citizens trying to avoid police presence while they are under constant fear ofpolice brutality. Values over profits, pls! pic.twitter.com/guaBfV8Pnf

— Charles Mok 莫乃光 (@charlesmok) October 10, 2019

Apple has taken down or blocked several apps relating to Hong Kong protests from its App Store. One prominent instance is the case of HKmap.live.

Launched in fall 2019, the HKmap.live app crowdsources the location of protesters and police. In a statement, Apple said it took the app down because it “has been used in ways that endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong.” HKmap released a backup version of the app called BackupHK: HKmap.live 即時地圖 after the original was taken down, which has since disappeared from the App Store.

Apple said it was withdrawing HKmap.live from its App Store just days after approving it because the authorities in Hong Kong said protesters were using it to attack the police in the semiautonomous city. Cook said in an email to employees that the company had removed the app after receiving “credible information” from the authorities and people in Hong Kong “that the app was being used maliciously to target individual officers for violence and to victimize individuals and property where no police are present.”

As a result, he said, the app violated Apple rules and local laws. “National and international debates will outlive us all, and, while important, they do not govern the facts,” he wrote in a memo sent to employees. “In this case, we thoroughly reviewed them, and we believe this decision best protects our users.”

According to a statement published by the makers of HKmap.live, Apple said “your app has been used in ways that endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong”. Apple’s withdrawal of the application from its App Store follows an accusation from China’s state media that the app “obviously helps rioters”.

Reacting to the removal, U.S. lawmakers wrote a letter to Tim Cook :

“Apple’s decisions (…) to accommodate the Chinese government by taking down HKMaps is deeply concerning,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge you in the strongest terms to reverse course, to demonstrate that Apple puts values above market access, and to stand with the brave men and women fighting for basic rights and dignity in Hong Kong.”

HKmap.live’s developers have pushed back against Apple’s claims and reiterated that the app was aggregating and consolidating information from users, news sources, and social networks like Facebook and Telegram. HKmap.live never displayed a lack of police on its map, only areas where they were congregating.

Programmer and technology blogger John Gruber pushed back on Apple in his Daring Fireball blog:

“I can’t recall an Apple memo or statement that crumbles so quickly under scrutiny. For a company that usually measures umpteen times before cutting anything, it’s both sad and startling.”

Maya Wang, a senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong, said Apple’s decision to remove the Hong Kong app had emboldened the Chinese Communist Party.

“I think the party concludes from this that intimidation, harassment and pressure work for most people, in most places,” she said.

PopVote.app (2020)

In the summer of 2020, Apple rejected a pro-democracy app in Hong Kong after Chinese officials warned that it might contravene the national security law. Pro-democracy campaigners had created PopVote, an unofficial election platform effectively acting as a popularity poll for candidates opposed to the Chinese crackdown in the region. Both iOS and Android apps were created for it. But while the app was quickly accepted in Google’s Play Store, Apple rejected the iOS version citing “issues with the code”, PopVote told Quartz in July 2020.

PopVote, the electronic voting platform for last wkend's democratic primaries in HK, now open-sourced: https://t.co/NaqzJNvRVv

After publication of my story re: Apple's non-approval of the app, Apple asked the developers if the election was 'authorized by govt'

h/t @wongmjane https://t.co/umoUSo64px

— Mary Hui (@maryhui) July 15, 2020

The developers fixed the code within hours, Edwin Chu, an IT advisor for the app, told Quartz, but Apple then repeatedly ignored multiple requests for an update and the app never made it onto the App Store.

“We think it is being censored by Apple,” Chu said.

Apple is coming under criticism for remaining largely silent on the issue, though the piece does note the difficult position faced by tech companies.

A prior version of PopVote app had been issued in 2014 by the University of Hong Kong to survey Hong Kong residents about the 2017 Chief Executive elections.

LennonWallHK.app (2021)

Disappeared in September 2021

How Double Tenth was marked by HK:

Dozens of police and private security sealed off the historic Red House used as Sun Yat-sen’s secret base (https://t.co/EnS8DZdCWU) while at HKU—Sun’s alma mater—the Lennon Wall was destroyed in an unprecedented move (https://t.co/CGZ49jahwA). pic.twitter.com/tNz0Q9jdwC

— Ryan Ho Kilpatrick 何松濤 (@rhokilpatrick) October 10, 2020

A blank Lennon Wall: speaks volumes on the state of HK today.
(& see further down the thread: someone called the police on a different venue for having a blank Lennon Wall...smh) https://t.co/SkRztiAlh3

— Antony Dapiran (@antd) July 3, 2020

Developed by Free Hong Kong, and released on August 26, 2019, LennonWallHK was a crowdsourcing app to build “Lennon Walls” throughout the city.

“During the series of protests against the China-Extradition bill beginning on 9 June, the original Lennon Wall has been once again set up in front of the Hong Kong Central Government Offices staircase. During the months of June and July, Lennon Walls with similar encouraging messages written on post-it notes and regular paper have been put up throughout the entire Hong Kong. This is referred to as “blossoming everywhere” (遍地開花).” said the description of the app on Apple’s App Store page.

“This is an open source project dedicated to Hong Kong citizens against the tyranny of hk government during the anti-extradition bill protest. You are welcome the download the source code and create your own Lennon Wall app at https://github.com/goatman/LennonWallHK”

The political art pieces were inspired by the original John Lennon Wall in Prague and became popularized during the 2014 Hong Kong democracy protests. Protestors posted thousands of sticky notes in public places spreading pro-democracy messages. Lennon Walls in Hong Kong were generally censored starting in the fall of 2020, including at universities.

LennonWallHK disappeared from all iOS app stores, including Hong Kong, in September 2021.

The developer did not respond to AppleCensorship’s inquiries about the removal. Looking at LennonWallHK’s social media, the developer was once very active on social media, but their posts became infrequent in the fall of 2021, around the time the app was removed.

The two posts before LennonWallHK was removed from the iOS App Store included a post on June 4, 2021, about the Tiananmen Square massacre. It showed a photo of a woman in black clothing holding a sign that says “8964.” The caption said “Hong Kong does not forget.”

LIHKG (2022)

Temporarily taken down on 22 March 2022

Hong Kong’s Reddit-like app, LIHKG, was removed from the iOS App Store in March of 2022 and reactivated one day later. LIHKG is often referred to as “Hong Kong Reddit” and is a local popular online discussion forum.

App for controversial Hong Kong platform LIHKG removed from Apple App Store. Reason unknown.

LIHKG 連登 App 突然被 App Store 下架　懷疑跟會員留言有關https://t.co/iW6AEVf9L2

— Charles Mok 莫乃光 (@charlesmok) March 22, 2022

According to a report from HK01, the management of LIHKG believed that some comments left by its users had violated the policies of App Store, leading to the removal of the app on the platform.