Hong Kong: Apple removes app used by protestors to track down police

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: Oct 10, 2019, 06:43 PM IST

A woman being escorted by Hong Kong police during a standoff between police and protesters near the Mongkok police station in Hong Kong on Oct 7

The protestors were using Apples' HKmap.live app to locate the police in the ongoing tension in China's autonomous region, Russia Today has reported.

Apple has removed its application (app) used by the protestors here to track the movement of police officers after incidents of vandalism were reported.

The protestors were using Apples' HKmap.live app to locate the police in the ongoing tension in China's autonomous region, Russia Today has reported.

"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," the company said in a statement.

This comes after millions of users of Apple gadgets in China had trouble accessing features on their iPhones and iPads, which is believed to be Beijing's move to barricade connections to the backbone network of the group's services, the Asian Times reported.