Apple will take a rare shareholder grilling about free speech after it removed a map app used by Hong Kong protesters

REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Apple CEO Tim Cook.

• Apple faces an internal conflict with shareholders over its human rights policies.
• At the firm's annual meeting next year, shareholders will press Apple to describe how it will respond to future demands - whether from national governments or other groups - that might limit free expression or access to information.
• The news comes after activists working for SumOfUs, a consumer advocacy group, successfully submitted a proposal seeking the commitment.
• Apple was widely criticized for blocking a mapping app that allowed Hong Kong protesters to track police, with critics suggesting the firm had kowtowed to Beijing.
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Apple may be forced to clarify exactly how it responds to government demands that might limit free speech.

According to the Financial Times, shareholders at the firm's annual meeting next year will ask Apple to describe how it will respond to future demands - whether from national governments or other groups - that might limit free expression or access to information.

This comes after campaigners working for SumOfUs, the consumer advocacy group, submitted a successful proposal which urged Apple to provide such a description. The campaigners are themselves thought to be Apple shareholders.

Apple has been criticized in recent months for its apparent willingness to ban apps that undermine the Chinese government. In July it said it had removed over 600 apps at the request of international governments in the second half of 2018, with over 80% thought to have been removed from its mainland Chinese app store.

The tech giant's removal of the HKMap Live app from its App Store has proven especially controversial. HKMap Live allowed Hong Kongers to track the location of police in the territory.

Though the app was purportedly meant to help locals avoid getting caught up in police-protestor clashes, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the app was being used to "maliciously target individual officers for violence."

According to an internal company memo obtained by Bloomberg, Cook told Apple staff the app was being used to "victimize individuals and property where no police are present," and further said he had received "credible information" that the app was being used in this way.

Yet the tech giant's removal of the app was widely interpreted as Apple kowtowing to the Chinese state. Soon after the internal memo was reported, US lawmakers including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Marco Rubio signed an open letter to Cook calling his decision "deeply concerning."

Business Insider has contacted SumOfUs for comment.

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