Senator to Apple: Why are you aiding China’s crackdown on protesters?

In an open letter, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., demanded that Apple CEO Tim Cook explain why his company “continues to aid and abet the totalitarian regime” in Beijing “while campaigning against free speech at home.”

Noting the protests at the Foxconn iPhone factory and the historic demonstrations against China’s zero-COVID policy, he cited reports that Apple, through a software update, modified the AirDrop function in China to make it more difficult for protestors to evade censorship and surveillance.
“Unconscionable though this decision may be, it is not surprising: under your leadership, Apple has time and again assisted the Chinese Communist Party in surveilling and suppressing the basic human rights of the Chinese people,” ()