(NewsGlobal.com)- Apple assisted the Chinese Communists in putting down the widespread anti-regime rallies this month.
Unfortunately, the iPhone’s AirDrop file-sharing capability, which enables users to share files in totalitarian governments, was unavailable to the freedom demonstrators.
In their most recent update, Apple eliminated the feature in China without notifying customers.
Hence, Apple is currently collaborating with communists.
Over the weekend, anti-government demonstrations erupted in a number of Chinese cities and on college campuses. Apple limited its use in China earlier this month, so the nation’s largest display of public discontent in decades will have to manage without a critical communication tool.
The file-sharing feature on iPhones and other Apple products called AirDrop has been helpful for protesters to get around censorship in many repressive nations. This is so that AirDrop, which creates a local network of devices that can communicate without the internet, can function. AirDrop relies on direct connections between phones. Anyone nearby with an iPhone can choose to send AirDrops to you.
On November 9, Apple updated its mobile operating system, iOS 16.1.1, and made it available to users worldwide. The business merely stated that the latest version included bug fixes and security improvements and is recommended for all customers instead of mentioning new features, as it frequently does.
A change that only affects iPhones sold in mainland China was buried in the update: AirDrop may only be configured to receive texts from everyone for 10 minutes before shutting off. There is no longer a method on Chinese iPhones to permanently turn on the “everyone” setting. The adjustment only affects Chinese readers of 9to5Mac and isn’t made elsewhere.
The 2020 book Dying for an iPhone by historian and sociologist Mark Selden, which looked at Apple’s ties with China, claimed that Apple’s adjustments to AirDrop “were made by Apple in the context of pressure from the Chinese state.” The Cupertino behemoth is strongly reliant on China as a manufacturing hub and a market, so it has “very little choice” but to submit to Chinese authorities if it wants to continue doing business there, he claimed.
