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Comment by dkonofalski | Hacker News Reader

Weird. Yesterday, people on here were accusing Apple of bowing to the Chinese for this exact same app.

It's not weird. Apple reversed their decision and allowed the app on the App Store. Now they are facing veiled threats from Chinese state media for doing the right thing.

There was no reversal. It was new, and had never been approved.

It got through the approval process recently.

According to [1]: The app, known as HKmap.live, is a mobile version of a website that helps users avoid potentially dangerous areas, according to the developer, who uses the alias Kuma to remain anonymous. It was rejected from Apple’s App Store because it "facilitates, enables, and encourages an activity that is not legal," Apple told the developer, according to a copy of the rejection notice seen by Bloomberg News. "Specifically, the app allowed users to evade law enforcement," Apple wrote.

Bloomberg claims they saw the initial rejection notice, which was later reversed.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-03/apple-rev...

I hadn’t seen that reporting.

What I meant was that it had never been approved, so the state never switched.

But you’re right, the reporting was that it was initially rejected, so I was wrong.

How is that not weird? The posts from yesterday were after the app had already been approved and released. And, unless someone has a source that says otherwise, it seems very likely that the app rejection was automatic and had nothing to do with the political implications being ascribed to it.

They removed the app. This is why people were attacking Apple.

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