Apple's Tim Cook defends decision to remove Hong Kong protest app

Company has received sustained criticism for appearing to align with Chinese government

Apple CEO, Tim Cook openS the door of the newly renovated Apple Store at Fifth Avenue on September 20, 2019 in New York City (KENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Tim Cook has defended Apple's decision to remove a Hong Kong protest app from its store.

The company has received sustained criticism for the ban, which activists have argued aligns the company with the Chinese government and against Hong Kong protestors.

But Mr Cook backed the decision once again, defending the decision in a letter sent to Apple employees.

In the message on an internal Apple website, Cook said the information in the app, including crowdsourced locations of police checkpoints and protest hotspots, was on its own "benign."

"It is no secret that technology can be used for good or for ill. This case is no different," Cook wrote.

Cook wrote that Apple based its decision on "credible information" from both Hong Kong police and Apple users in Hong Kong that the app was used "maliciously to target individual officers for violence and to victimize individuals and property where no police are present."

"This use put the app in violation of Hong Kong law," Cook said. "Similarly, widespread abuse clearly violates our App Store guidelines barring personal harm."

Apple made the decision a day after a Chinese state newspaper wrote a commentary criticising the company for approving the app.

"National and international debates will outlive us all, and, while important, they do not govern the facts," Cook wrote in his letter. "In this case, we thoroughly reviewed them, and we believe this decision best protects our users."

Additional reporting by agencies