Riot police shine lights at protesters outside Ma On Shan police station in the New Territories of Hong Kong on Oct. 9.

Apple removed from its App Store on Wednesday a popular crowdsourced mapping app called HKmap.live, which let people in Hong Kong track police during the country’s ongoing pro-democracy protests.

The removal has sparked outrage from critics who have accused the company of kowtowing to the Chinese government.



Apple removed the app days after the company was criticized in Chinese state media for aiding “rioters” in Hong Kong. An editorial in People’s Daily, a government-run newspaper, said: “Letting poisonous software have its ways is a betrayal of Chinese people’s feelings.”

In a statement late on Wednesday, Apple said:

We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps. We have learned that an app, HKmap.live, has been used in ways that endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong. Many concerned customers in Hong Kong have contacted us about this app and we immediately began investigating it. The app displays police locations and we have verified with the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau [CSTCB] that the app has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement. This app violates our guidelines and local laws, and we have removed it from the App Store.

In response, the developers of HKmap.live tweeted that there was “0 evidence to support CSTCB’s accusation” and added that “HKmap App never solicits, promotes, or encourages criminal activity. HKmap App consolidates information from user and public sources, e.g. live news stream, Facebook and Telegram.”