Other than countries like the U.S., UK and Germany, there are other stakeholders that are of paramount importance in putting an end to the encroaching dictatorship of China. Technology giants like Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Apple control the way ordinary citizens access information and interact online. Hence, the standards they uphold as they operate and provide service would greatly affect the flow of information, what is accessible, what is allowed and what is not.

Back in October, an app called “HK Map live”, which relies on crowdsourced information, tracks the locations of police vehicles, armed officers and incidents that took place where people are hurt. It was taken down from App Store after People’s Daily, a Chinese state-owned media, accused Apple Inc of protecting rioters and enabling illegal behaviour. “By allowing its platform to clear the way for an app that incites illegal behaviour, [does Apple] not worry about damaging its reputation and hurting the feelings of consumers?” said a commentary on People’s Daily. After the commentary was published, the app was removed by Apple the next day—just days after it was approved. Apple published a press release and claimed that the company had realised that hkmap.live violated Apple guidelines and the local laws as it had been used to “target and ambush” the police, threatening public safety.

Although Apple reversed its decision and made the programme available again later, that is not the first time Apple has removed apps from the App Store of the Hong Kong, Taiwan and China region. Apple, complying with requests from Chinese authorities, removed news apps like New York Times, Quartz and so on. Communication apps like Telegram, Signal and VPN are not accessible on App Store in China too. It is unclear if Apple ever resits or evaluates these requests.

Apple is one of the largest, most profitable companies in the world. Yet, it says it has no power or choice to refrain from complying with the Chinese government, even though doing so puts the company in direct contradiction with their supposed values on freedom of expression and privacy. Google went into direct conflict with its motto of “don’t be evil” or “do no evil”, when it intended to re-enter the Chinese market a few years ago.

It is predictable that Apple, Facebook, Google and other tech companies will comply with the national security law after it is implemented in Hong Kong. It is highly possible that they will comply with every request Chinese or the Hong Kong government makes, handing out data of activists or electoral candidates that can lead to arrests or imprisonment. Yahoo gave access to journalist Shi Tao’s email account, he was then imprisoned for almost a decade based on that data. In this day and age that tech companies hold almost all of our data as we rely on their products and services to access the virtual world, it is unacceptable that they claim they are forced to follow Chinese local laws because human rights should be made available to everyone, no matter where we are. Tech companies should refrain from being directly involved in human rights violation or indirectly supporting China’s systematic approach in doing so.

It is important that we raise awareness regarding the roles these companies play in regard to human rights situations. Complying with its request divide their users into two classes—those who have access and those who do not, those who get to exercise fundamental rights and those who cannot. These companies should stand together and reject CCP’s request for taking down apps or services. As the companies need the Chinese market, the Chinese market also has demand for the services. Such an exchange or sales ought to be based on fair and equal terms.

(Glacier Kwong, born and raised in Hong Kong, became a digital rights and political activist at the age of 15. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Law and working on the course for Hong Kong in Germany. Her work has been published on Washington Post, TIME, etc.)

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