Apple removes Grindr from the Chinese app store | Hacker News Reader

Apple removes Grindr from the Chinese app store

applecensorship.com

68 pointscryoz20 comments

Apple is also lobbying against a bill that would target Chinese slave labor: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/20/apple-u.... And Disney is erasing Black characters from movie posters to appease the Chinese: https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/08/asia/star-wars-china-racist-p.... Meanwhile, they preach diversity and inclusion here at home.

I'm not mad at a multinational corporation for doing whatever is best for their bottom line. I'm not one of those Occupy Wall Street types, but this pretense of social justice is deeply concerning. Back in the day we had the giant amoral corporations and the social justice advocates and they would duke it out in the political arena. The public would balance the benefits of corporations (jobs, more stuff, etc.) against social justice and distributional concerns. But today, the giant amoral corporations have coopted political movements for social justice by pretending to join them.

The opposition has collapsed. You've got the party of Wall Street and Silicon Valley, and the party of Mitch McConnell. Ideas that had been the stock and trade of liberals, like opposing racism, have been redefined and redeployed to stifle opposition to globalism and giving away the store to China.

Yeah, the US needs an anti-capitalist opposition that can see through the PR. Like most European countries have.

Coopted is surely hyperbole though, as it suggests control, more like riding the wave.

It’s control. Who donates on Act Blue?

> Back in the day we had the giant amoral corporations and the social justice advocates and they would duke it out in the political arena. The public would balance the benefits of corporations (jobs, more stuff, etc.) against social justice and distributional concerns. But today, the giant amoral corporations have coopted political movements for social justice by pretending to join them.

I don't think it has ever been different. Corporations don't care about much that doesn't hurt their bottom line. They just care about positive PR and to achieve that they side with whatever team that seems to be winning right now.

A lot of the companies preaching wokeness now have supported fascists in the past and most of them would probably do it again, it just depends on what's popular.

> Ideas that had been the stock and trade of liberals, like opposing racism, have been redefined and redeployed to stifle opposition to globalism and giving away the store to China.

You have a corporate party and a corporate party. Typical left-wing ideas have been hollowed out by the democratic party as a nice paint on their corporate agenda, with the same motivation as described above. The republicans do the same thing, but with xenophobia.

Your comment sounds defeatist, like them doing that ruins something. They may be trying to redefine meanings, but pointing that out and standing for the original ones is both possible and effective.

OH I wish we could talk. Exactly the same thought here. I often wonder if we are a very small minority. I dont have a problem with cooperate aiming for profits, the world isn't black and white. But I have a huge problem with pretense and hypocrisy.

It used to be Google when they kept their whole "Dont Be Evil" PR, I was making the argument Google cant and shouldn't be trusted to Mozilla 20 years too early. But Apple went from true to themselves in Steve Jobs era to hypocrisy level that even makes Google looking like complete amateur. From making insanely great product for our family and friends in Steve Jobs era, to "enriching people's lives", than "leave the world better than we found it" and "privacy is a fundamental human right".

They made $25.78 billion from the China, they will wear underwear and jump in a cold pool if that’s what CCP wants them to do.

https://www.thestreet.com/markets/apple-smashes-q1-earnings-...

My opinion:

Only one of the following is compatible with meaningful freedom:

1) centralized networks with significant mindshare (e.g. the app stores, Twitter, etc)

2) those networks having the legal/technical ability to censor material on their platforms

It's really one or the other. If you have both, then it's just a matter of time until something you care about is pushed to the margins.

Nah #2 would only be true in countries where you don't have the option to start your own platform and make a business out of presenting alternative platforms for those "social voices". If you can't make a business out of that then those voices were tiny and unprofitable anyway and should have been put on personal blogs or something.

So, pushed to the margins then?

US forced PRC company to sell Grindr due to national security, reasonable for PRC to ban US owned Grindr in return. Wonder if it's easier to blackmail a gay PLA officer vs gay US forces officer. Regardless, both cultures seem to still view homosexuality as a national security liability.

It is most likely related to the fact that it is no longer owned by Chinese company. Here is a news story from 2019:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/us/politics/grindr-china-...

From the article:

> The Trump administration is expanding its efforts to block Chinese acquisitions in the United States, moving to force a Chinese firm that owns Grindr, the gay dating app, to relinquish control over concerns that Beijing could use personal information to blackmail or influence American officials, according to people familiar with the situation.

Now, it is owned by an American company and China must have similar concerns which explains the ban.

Interesting website.. a lot of surprising banned apps, e.g. why is The Simpsons: Tapped Out banned in the UK?

With all the data leaks, I wonder if anyone will argue this as protective action.

Bonforte still CEO over there?

Oh to be a fly on the wall for that conference call.

Calling Grindr an “LGBTQ+ App” is a bit off the mark. It’s a hook-up app for gay men. Nothing wrong with that — used it myself back in the day, it’s one of many — but that moniker seems needlessly fussy.

Since most people here know what Grindr is, we can easily fix that in the title above.

Meh, I disagree, as someone who uses the app for way too many hours a day. It's not just for gay people, it is used by a lot of people who identify has queer or trans or NB.

It's also not just a hookup app, but that's not really a strong argument given how 99% of my interactions go on there.

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