Protests have broken out in several Chinese cities, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) isn’t happy that Apple is the latest American firm to come to its help before the start of the rebellion. This is merely the most recent instance of American companies caving to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party in order to make money in the totalitarian nightmare, despite the fact that doing so would amount to implicit support of the despotic government’s human rights atrocities.
Apple’s move to limit the ability of iPhone users in China to share data from device to device, avoiding the CCP’s censors and surveillance apparatus, is a major setback for those who speak out against the Chinese Communist Party and seek to expose its repressive policies.
It was claimed earlier this month that Apple has banned its use in China, meaning that “the country’s biggest extensive exhibition of public dissent in decades would have to do without a vital communication tool.”
Later in the article, we learn how a mandated software update for iPhones sold in China severely destroyed a vital communication infrastructure.
Many activists in authoritarian countries have been able to get around censorship by using AirDrop, a file-sharing app available on iPhones and other Apple devices. This is due to the fact that AirDrop utilizes Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to establish a local area network, enabling devices to transfer data without an internet connection. iOS users in close proximity to one another can use AirDrops if they so want.
In case you missed it, Apple released iOS 16.1.1 on November 9. This was the first major update to Apple’s mobile operating system in two years. Instead of providing a more in-depth explanation of the new features it provided to consumers; the business simply stated that “this update provides bug fixes and security updates and is recommended for all customers.”
Sharing media wirelessly with mainland-purchased iPhones using AirDrop With China’s new setting, you won’t be able to receive texts for 10 minutes after getting them from anybody. Apple no longer allows Chinese iPhone buyers to permanently switch to the “everyone” setting. The Chinese 9to5Mac audience uncovered this update, and it is now only available in China.
According to Yahoo Finance, AirDrop has been used on college campuses, the epicenters of several recent protests, to discuss protest papers and plans without drawing notice from the CCP or seeking to evade the communist government’s stifling of internet traffic.
Apple did not provide any explanations or comments when asked about the changes it made to AirDrop. The company did, however, point to a previous Bloomberg piece that said 2023 will see the introduction of a time limit to receive files via AirDrop from anybody as a “global norm.”
In early November, Apple discreetly released iOS 11.3 for iPhones in China. The obvious question was asked by Yahoo before the company went on to highlight how Xi Jinping’s “anointment to a third term as China’s leader” had prompted protests. It’s not the first time Apple has caved to the CCP’s demands and banned apps from China’s App Store that were being used by demonstrators to organize actions and broadcast information that wasn’t popular with communist country’s leaders, according to Yahoo Finance. It occurred right in the middle of the 2019 demonstrations in Hong Kong.
Yahoo Finance’s claim that Apple is “coming to the government’s help” by altering AirDrop settings is accurate insofar as it affects Chinese customers.