Apple CEO Tim Cook defends decision to remove HKmap.live app

Apple CEO Tim Cook has defended the controversial decision to remove the app HKmap.live from the App Store in a message to employees. According to the CEO, the app violated Hong Kong law and was used maliciously.

Cook wrote in the email to Apple staff that “decisions like this are never easy.” Basically, the information the app shows is harmless, he writes: “The app in question showed crowdsourced coverage and localization of police checkpoints, protest hotspots and other information.”

However, he claims that in recent days Apple has “received reliable information from the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau and users that the app was maliciously used to target agents, individuals and property without police presence.” In doing so, the app violates Hong Kong law, Cook concludes. On Thursday, Apple decided to remove the app.

The developer of the app reports that there no proof is for the claims of Apple and the Hong Kong police. The maker writes that it is ‘a political decision to suppress freedom and human rights in Hong Kong’. According to IT expert Charles Mok citizens actually used the app to avoid police and police violence. Critics report that individual officers do not appear on the app’s map, only large groups of police officers. Also, the map does not show where no police are present, as can be seen on the browser version of HKmap.live.