Apple’s mainland China political censorship extends to product engravings in Hong Kong and Taiwan, researchers say
- Researchers at The Citizen Lab in Canada found that part of Apple’s mainland China political censorship ‘bleeds into both Hong Kong and Taiwan’
- They indicated that political keywords are Apple’s main focus of censorship in its product engraving service across Greater China
In a report published on Wednesday, Citizen Lab researchers – based at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in the University of Toronto – found that “part of Apple’s mainland China political censorship bleeds into both Hong Kong and Taiwan” in terms of filtering content for product engraving.
The company’s service allows customers to engrave a mix of emoji, text and numbers on the exterior of the company’s products, including the iPhone, iPad, AirPod, AirTag and Apple Pencil.
In mainland China, Apple censors political content including broad references to Chinese leadership and the country’s political system, names of dissidents and independent news organisations, and general terms relating to religion, democracy and human rights, according to the report.
“Much of this censorship exceeds Apple’s legal obligations in Hong Kong, and we are aware of no legal justification for the political censorship of content in Taiwan,” the report said.
Researchers’ analysis of Apple’s product engraving service in six markets – mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the United States and Canada – found that keyword filtering rules vary. While Apple blocks keywords referencing explicit sexual content, vulgarity, and illicit goods and services in all six markets, researchers indicated that political keywords are the main focus in the company’s Greater China markets.