It was reported last week that a Bible app and a Quran app were removed from Apple’s app store in China because of pressure from the communist government.
This behavior of the Chinese Communist Party is not surprising. But now, an American company has taken on the dirty work of Beijing.
The Apple Censorship group (which monitors free speech issues pertaining to the company) was the first to report that the Olive Tree’s Bible app and Quran Majeed apps were removed from the app store.
When Apple removed the Quran app, the app’s makers were told it contained illegal content in China. China’s restrictions on religious texts affect people of all faiths, sometimes brutally. In Xinjiang, Uighur Muslims who are caught with religious content on their smartphones can be detained without trial in a concentration camp.
The creators of the Olive Tree bible themselves removed their app. “Olive Tree Bible software was informed during the app store review process that we are required to provide a license demonstrating our authorization to distribute an app with book or magazine content in mainland China,” a spokesperson told BBC News. “Since we didn’t have the license and we needed to approve our app update and put it out to customers, we removed our Bible app from the China app store.”
He hopes that he will eventually be able to put the app back into the app store.
This seems unlikely, however, as the Chinese government has tightened restrictions on Chinese citizens’ access to the Bible in general. Hard copies of the Bible can no longer be purchased online in China, Christian businesspeople have been prosecuted for selling audio bibles, and the Chinese Communist Party has announced it is developing its own version of the Bible that will embrace socialist values.
Chinese government restrictions on citizens’ access to religious texts continue. With Apple’s removal of the Koran app and Olive Tree’s self-censorship, pressure from the Chinese government is now forcing US companies to censor at Beijing’s behest.
This comes at a time when online freedom of expression is under attack around the world. Freedom on the Net 2021 report from Freedom House found that “[mais] governments imprisoned users for non-violent political, social or religious speeches than ever before.”
And, for the seventh year in a row, China has the worst conditions for internet freedom. Rather than being part of this problem, American corporations like Apple should promote freedom of expression abroad, including religious expression.
While American corporations regularly advocate progressive policies at home, they often fail to take strong positions against authoritarian regimes abroad. Last November, Apple even lobbied to weaken the Uighur Forced Labor Prevention Act, a bill that would bar Uighur Muslim forced labor products from entering the United States.
Apple appears to be prioritizing profits over human rights, whether it’s removing religious apps at the request of the Chinese government or cashing in on modern slavery in China.
Last month, Apple and Google banned a Russian political opposition app from their app stores after Russian censors demanded it. These acts of cowardice are worrisome. Do American corporations really want to assume the role of censors for regimes that hate freedom?
Apple and other American companies need to demonstrate courage and stand up to authoritarian regimes that seek to exercise control at the expense of basic freedoms such as freedom of speech and religion.
They must do a better job of reacting against the Chinese government and other malicious governments. Otherwise, they become complicit in facilitating human rights abuses around the world.
American companies can do better, and American customers must demand that they do.
Arielle del Turco is assistant director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council.
©2021 Daily Signal. Published with permission. Original in English.
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