In response to criticism about these steps, Apple has blithely responded that it is obeying China’s laws. Is this how American companies should respond to dictatorial demands and arbitrary, unjust legal codes?

The Chinese regime makes no apologies about its human rights violations and seems not to care whom it crushes in its quest for power and control, whether it is the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died last year in Chinese custody, or the many human-rights lawyers and activists who have been detained and tortured in recent years.

When dealing with the Chinese regime, American companies should likewise not apologize for their commitment to the fundamental values — human rights, democracy, freedom of information, the rule of law — that have allowed them to flourish. American companies should not follow practices in authoritarian countries that are illegal in the United States.

It’s hard to believe that Apple is caving in to the regime like this. The only conclusion I am left to draw is that the company is O.K. with taking part in the suppression of freedoms abroad while espousing high-minded values at home.

To be fair, many American tech companies have been tripping over themselves to get into China. Facebook has reportedly been developing censorship software so that it can win approval to operate in China, while the company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has long been courting the Chinese leadership. For such companies, the Chinese market is simply too big of a temptation when weighed against less quantitatively measurable things like human rights and freedom of expression.

Those companies, institutions and organizations that play an outsize role in society should not shirk their responsibility to uphold social justice. The Chinese people have been fighting for human rights for decades, including the rights to privacy, freedom of speech and democracy. Many have lost their lives doing so. Instead of aiding dictatorships and following a misguided path to the future, Apple should return to its core values and protect the rights of its users at home and abroad.