Apple—Removed Quartz news app from Hong Kong and China App Stores for covering pro-democracy protests
In October 2019, Apple removed the Quartz news app from App Stores in Hong Kong and mainland China. Quartz had been providing extensive coverage of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, including live updates and investigative reporting. Apple did not provide a detailed public explanation, citing only that the app violated local content regulations. The removal prevented Hong Kong residents from accessing independent journalism during a critical political moment.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authoritarian Compliance | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| Press Freedom | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.443 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.59)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
Apple removed Quartz news app from China App Store on October 9, 2019 for Hong Kong protest coverage
On October 9, 2019, Apple removed the Quartz news app from the Chinese App Store, stating it included 'content that is illegal in China' without providing specifics. Quartz had been covering Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests for months, including information on circumventing government censorship via VPNs. Quartz CEO Zach Seward stated: 'We abhor this kind of government censorship of the internet.' Apple had previously removed the New York Times app from China's App Store in 2017, showing a pattern of compliance with Chinese government content requests.