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January 30, 2023
11:14 AM ET

Apple’s censorship for China is starting to leak into Hong Kong

Evidence suggests the Big Tech giant is expanding its blacklist to Hong Kong.

Will Henney

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GitLab, a code-sharing website, is no longer accessible on Apple’s browser Safari in Hong Kong. According to The Intercept, the website is inaccessible for “safety” reasons after Apple quietly started applying a blacklist operated by Tencent in Hong Kong.

Tencent operates a browsing filter for users of the Safari browser in mainland China. Apple had said that the Tencent blacklist would only apply to the mainland. However, in late November last year, Apple quietly changed Safari’s privacy policy to note that the Tencent blacklist applies in Hong Kong.

Apple did not say why the blacklist started applying in Hong Kong.

Unlike the mainland, Hong Kong has enjoyed censorship-free internet for decades. However, that freedom began crumbling with the passing of the “national security law” in 2020.

Apple appears to be the only North American tech company applying the Tencent blacklist to Hong Kong.

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