Apple has received a fair amount of backlash over its decision to ban an app that allows Hong Kong protesters to track the location of police,India ambulance, road closures, tear gas, and other information about the city.
Now, in an internal memo seen by Reuters, company CEO Tim Cook doubled down on the decision and explained some of the logic behind it.
According to Cook, Apple has thoroughly researched the app, called HKmap.live, and found that it's used to “maliciously to target individual officers for violence and to victimize individuals and property where no police are present.”
This, claims Cook, means the app was violating Hong Kong law, and the abuse was violating Apple's App Store guidelines.
"We believe this decision best protects our users," he said.
SEE ALSO: Apple's augmented reality glasses to come by mid-2020, report claimsCook's reasoning echoes the words of the app's developer, which tweeted that "everything can be used for illegal purpose on the wrong hand." The conclusion is different, though; while HKmap.live claims the app is meant to provide information, and that its users are not "lawbreakers," Cook calls the abuse of the app "widespread."
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
The HKmap.live is still available on the web, here.
SEE ALSO: Here's a growing list of companies bowing to China censorship pressureApple's not the only company that's being criticized over its conduct in light of the Hong Kong protests. Game developer and publisher Blizzard is in hot water after suspending a popular Hearthstone playerChung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai for publicly voicing support for the Hong Kong protesters.
Your 'wrong person' texts may be linked to Myanmar warlord
Margot Robbie slapped Leonardo DiCaprio at the 'The Wolf of Wall Street' audition
7 activists tell us the best thing about being autistic
Man hatches fake terror plot to avoid holidaying with girlfriend
Is it 'Thunderbolts*' or *The New Avengers'?
Classy dog in a bowtie sitting on a Delta flight becomes Twitter's darling
Shea Moisture apologizes after everyone slammed its ad: 'We really f
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick claimed he was the 2nd best Wii Tennis player in the world
Against Fear
Science journal retracts 107 'fabricated' research papers by Chinese authors
NYT Strands hints, answers for May 5
How 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' will be brought into virtual reality
An Instagram bug is preventing users from temporarily disabling their accounts
Computers can't grasp Icelandic. Here's why that's a big problem
The Baffler’s May Day Round Up
'We Bare Bears' is a kids' show tackling modern millennial anxieties
7 activists tell us the best thing about being autistic
I tried an Instagram caption generator and the results were hilarious
Inside the Murky Process of Getting Games on Steam
Can you spot the snake hiding in this photo?
Like the Cat That Got the CreamThe Morning News Roundup for February 4, 2014Life Is One NeverWhat We’re Loving: Foam, Florida, Fiction BingesSadie Stein on Disney’s 1935 Silly Symphony “The Cookie Carnival”The Morning News Roundup for February 17, 2014What We’re Loving: Foam, Florida, Fiction BingesThe Morning News Roundup for January 30, 2014Our Subscription Deal with McSweeney's Is Worth Bragging AboutLast Call for Our Subscription Deal with McSweeney’s!Remembering Pete SeegerLend Me an Ear by J. Mae BarizoA Brief History of the Snowball Fight by Sadie SteinOur Subscription Deal with McSweeney's Is Worth Bragging AboutCurious Punishments by Sadie SteinAn interview with Daniel Menaker, author of the memoir “My Mistake”Curious Punishments by Sadie SteinAn Excerpt from Samuel Foote’s The NabobJames Joyce’s modern heirs, the Hardy Boys’ strangest mysteries yet, and other newsSadie Stein on R. S. Thomas’s poem “Luminary” Farewell, Iain Banks, and Other News by Sadie Stein Microsoft's Bing and Edge features give online shopping a generative AI makeover Fortifications by Sadie Stein Murder! Intrigue! Book Clubs! And Other News by Sadie Stein My Day in Istanbul: A Tear The Knight’s Tale, and Other News by Sadie Stein DoorDash will now process SNAP and EBT online payments 'Quordle' today: See each 'Quordle' answer and hints for June 28 Kamala Harris predicted exactly why Twitter should suspend Trump two years ago Off the Grid by Chris Wallace What We’re Loving: Illuminations and Despair by The Paris Review Philip Roth Reads “In Memory of a Friend, Teacher and Mentor” by Sadie Stein Philosophy of Teenagers by Sadie Stein How to fight car State Department website declares Trump's term over, throws internet into chaos Millennials prioritize sex more than Gen Z does, eharmony says Josh Segarra is 'The Other Two's ultimate hype man 2 Stories of God: 62 and 70 by Joy Williams Aesthetically Speaking by Ivan Brunetti OpenAI is being sued for training ChatGPT with 'stolen' personal data