Apple, Wang, and the Streets: The Voice of Propaganda Against Xi’s No-Go Theorem on China

Reports in the international media have said that some people in China are using AirDrop to spread propaganda, which echoes slogans used in a rare protest against the Chinese leader.

Users of iPhones in mainland China who updated their iOS software this week can send or receive files from non-contacts for only up to 10 minutes after manually selecting a new “Everyone for 10 minutes” option, according to tests performed by CNN’s Beijing bureau.

The CNN team believes that the change doesn’t affect usage of aniphone in China that was purchased outside the country. The new feature will be added to Apple products worldwide in the next year, according to the company.

On that day, shortly before Xi secured a precedent-breaking third term, two banners were hung on an overpass of a major thoroughfare in the northwest of Beijing, protesting against Xi’s zero-Covid policy and authoritarian rule.

And in 2019, AirDrop, which is effective only over short distances, was particularly popular among anti-government demonstrators in Hong Kong who regularly used the feature to drop colorful posters and artwork to subway passengers urging them to take part in protests.

Reaction in Chinese media to the software update was mixed. The feature was put together to solve the problem of passengers on the subway and buses getting nuisance messages.

But others criticized Apple on Chinese social media. The US tech giant has been accused of appeasing the Chinese authorities before, including pulling the app from the store in China over content concerns during the Hong Kong demonstrations.

A graduate student from China is sleeping in a sleeping bag outside of the visitor center at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.

Rihitch: The bridge protest and street demonstrations around China last month against the government’s COVID rules are what he’s referring to. Apple, he says, is not helping.

ZHOU: They are calling for freedom. But a U.S. company like Apple, the most profitable company in the world – and they are aiding CCP in restricting this voice.

Apple did not comment on Wang’s hunger strike, which ended two weeks ago. In China, Doug worked for Apple and advised executives on Chinese politics. He says Apple’s supply chains in China are the key to its profitability.

ZHOU: All the issues were connected by this protest. For me, I think the most important change is that younger generation – you know, like today’s hunger striker, Wang Han – they are picking up the torch.

The Chinese Economy: Why Shouldn’t China Become a Part of the New Normal? A Comment on the NPR Experience at the Tevatron

RUWITCH: The company has moved some stuff to places such as India and Vietnam. It will take a long time to relocate supply chains. He claims that means that Apple is beholden to China. Chinese citizens aren’t happy about that and now it has to contend with that.

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