Apple’s decision to remove an app that allows protestors in Hong Kong to track police movement is being slammed by lawmakers.
"Apple is yet another capitalist who'll sell rope to communists to hang us," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., tweeted Thursday morning.
"An authoritarian regime is violently suppressing its own citizens who are fighting for democracy," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said. "Apple just sided with them."
Apple (AAPL) said it took the app down after complaints from several people in Hong Kong.
"The app displays police locations and we have verified with the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau that the app has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement," Apple said in a statement.
"This app violates our guidelines and local laws, and we have removed it from the App Store," it added.
HKmap in a tweet slammed the removal as a "political decision."
"We disagree [with] Apple and Hong Kong police force's claim that HKmap App endangers law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong," the app said on Twitter.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., had a separate rebuke for Apple: "It's time for Apple to stand up to Communist China. American companies should never be censored or told what to do by foreign adversaries," he tweeted.
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