Introduction

Helping a Democracy Die?

Two years after the adoption of the National Security Law (NSL), Beijing has effectively increased its control over Hong Kong’s digital space. In addition to the loyalty of Hong Kong’s Executive government and Judiciary, the central government now relies on local tech companies’ (mainly telecom companies and internet service providers) swift reaction to censorship requests. The block of HKChronicles website in January 2021, which was later followed by others, shows that the authorities are now able to censor online content using the National Security Law as a justification. Using the NSL, Beijing has also taken control of the public media, and has dismantled most of the free press in the city.

But to tighten its political grip on Hong Kong’s digital space, which largely consists of services operated by foreign tech companies, Beijing also needs to succeed in obtaining one of the two following outcomes: either these foreign tech companies offering services and platforms to Hong Kongers start toeing the line, or their services stop being offered in the special administrative region (because of the companies’ withdrawal from the region, or because they’re blocked by Beijing).

With an estimated market share of over 50%, Apple plays a central role in Beijing’s strategy to control information and expression online. Apple has become a potential “kill switch” for the communist party, which could, using the NSL, purge any content deemed illegal from the mobile ecosystem used by half of Hong Kong’s population. Recent history shows that Apple has been more than willing to cooperate with Chinese authorities and to export the censorship they exercise in mainland China to Hong Kong.

In this report, AppleCensorship looks into the compromises made by Apple in Hong Kong in the last few years, and examines the current level of app censorship in Hong Kong’s App Store. The report also highlights the risks posed by Apple’s dominating presence in Hong Kong and raises the following questions:

What will happen if Beijing starts using Apple to further limit information and speech online ? Will Apple resist requests for censorship or will it blindly “comply with law”, albeit the National Security Law, thus contributing to the death of Hong Kong’s democracy?