Apple Music Caught Censoring Pro-Democracy Music In China (gizmodo.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Chinese journalists and netizens recently found that Apple Music's Chinese streaming service censored a song by Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung that references the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, an extremely politically sensitive topic for the Chinese Communist Party. The incident's 30th anniversary is coming up in June. Sophie Richardson, the China Director at Human Rights Watch, called the reported move "spectacularly craven." The Tiananmen protests are emblematic of a larger pro-democracy movement in China that was snuffed out by the Beijing government. Thousands of protesters were killed, but the exact numbers have themselves been censored by Chinese government officials.

Apple Music has also reportedly censored Anthony Wong and Denise Ho, two pro-democracy singers. After being noticed by Chinese netizens, the removals were reported by the Hong Kong Free Press and The Stand, two Hong Kong-based news outlets. Taiwan News also reported the censorship of Cheung's "Ren Jian Dao." The music remains available on Apple Music's North American products. "By removing a song referring the Tiananmen Massacre, @apple is actively participating in the Chinese Communist Party's agenda of scrubbing the colossal violations it has committed against the Chinese people from collective memory and rewriting history," tweeted Yaqiu Wang, a Chinese researcher with Human Rights Watch.

Comments

Democracy

[The Altruist]

Because nothing is more threatening to a walled garden.

Business as usual

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple is not in the business of free speech, they're in the business of making money. If censoring one song means they can keep making money, they will.

Re:Hypocrisy

[Quakeulf]

Left and right is a false dichotomy to drive divide-and-conquer so we fight each others instead of those who push this misdirection.

It is the law of their country

[aepervius]

I am sure also apple music Germany is censoring selling pro nazi song sales. We may not like the law of *their* country, but apple has to respect local laws *where ever* it sells. It is pretty much so in every country that the law of the location of the buyer is the one which applies, not the law of the seller. If they don't want to respect the law of a country, the solution is simply : don't sell to anybody in that country. Many US outfit do that if you try to go to their site with an EU address they simply throw you out and say "GDPR we don't want you". Same principle.

welcome to China

[v1]

This article can be summed up with "company respects sovereignty of a country, and I'm outraged!"

Anyone doing business in China has to follow the laws, even if they don't align with the typical morals of the country where the business is based.

"Obey our laws or get out of China." It's just that simple.

TFA makes it sound like they have some magical 3rd choice and they're being evil for not "doing the right thing". It's pretty self-evident that they don't want to pack up and leave China, and removing a few songs from their store there (that are basically illegal to distribute in China) is a very small price to pay for them to stay in the market. Apple isn't above the law in China, they mow down large crowds of people trying to push this song's message, you don't think they will kick out Apple? This article is just trying to grab some headlines by reminding us that water is wet.

Re:welcome to China

[fortythirteen]

There is nothing wrong with expecting ethics to outweigh profit. Is a shipowner who transports slaves considered innocent if they are moving them between countries that have legalized slavery, or are we rightfully outraged by the presence of a slave trader?

Could always pull out of China

[tepples]

Google complied with Chinese law by ceasing to do business in China. I imagine that opponents of censorship would prefer that Apple follow suit.

Caught dealing in China in the first place

[tepples]

"An American international company CAUGHT following/respecting local laws in a country they do business!!!"

Could be rephrased:
"An American international company CAUGHT doing business in the first place in a country where local law requires violating human rights!!!"

When I lived in China there were the 3 T's and X

[Hasaf]

The Three T's and X were: Tibet, Tiananmen, Taiwan, and Xinjiang. It was made clear that we (the Westerners) had no knowledge or opinions on these topics. As such we have nothing to say about them.

One day a new assistant asked me about Tiananmen. I asked her what she knew. She told me that her history teacher told her that it was a beautiful park in Beijing where people fly kites. Her grandfather had told her something much more in line with what those of us who watched it life on TV saw.

I was not entirely sure about her at that point, so my answer to her was, "you should honour your grandfather."

She laughed and said, "that is so Chinese." However, she also understood my answer.

Re:No. Capitalism.

[houghi]

Q: How do you console a grammar nazi?
A: telnet there their they're