Topline
Apple removed the ICEBlock app from its App Store on Thursday, after the Trump administration urged the iPhone maker to take action against the crowd-sourced platform, which allowed users to monitor or report sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at their locations.
Key Facts
In a statement issued on social media, the app maker said: “We just received a message from Apple’s App Review that #ICEBlock has been removed from the App Store due to ‘objectionable content.’”
“The only thing we can imagine is this is due to pressure from the Trump Admin,” the statement said, adding that the app maker intends to fight this takedown.
Fox Business reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Justice Department to demand the removal of the app, which Apple complied with.
Bondi told Fox: “ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed.”
What Do We Know About Iceblock?
On its website, ICEBlock describes itself as a “completely anonymous crowd-sourced platform that allows users to report Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity with just two taps on their phone.” These reports are then used to alert other ICEBlock users of the presence of ICE agents within a 5-mile radius. The website notes the app is modeled after the Google-owned navigation app Waze, which provides travel time estimates and other details based on user-submitted data. The app maker claims it ensures user privacy by “storing no personal data, making it impossible to trace reports back to individual users.” In late June, CNN reported that the app had over 20,000 users. On Thursday, the app’s creator, Joshua Aaron, told Fox Business that the user base at the time of the app’s takedown stood at 1.1 million.
Big Number
90,000. That is the total number of times the app was downloaded from the iOS App Store in the past 30 days, according to Sensor Tower data.
What Do We Know About Apple’s History Of App Takedowns?
This is not the first instance of Apple taking down a popular crowd-sourced app after being pressured by government officials. In 2019, the app HKmap.live—used by pro-democracy activists in the city to track the location of protests and police patrols—was removed from the App Store after the iPhone maker faced pushback from Chinese state media. The state-controlled People’s Daily accused Apple of protecting “rioters” in Hong Kong and allowing them to incite “illegal behavior.” After removing the app, the company said: “We have learned that an app, HKmap.live, has been used in ways that endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong.” Apple’s decision came under sharp criticism in the U.S., including a bipartisan group of Congressional lawmakers. In a letter written to the iPhone-maker, the lawmakers from both parties expressed: “strong concern about Apple’s censorship of apps, including a prominent app used by protesters in Hong Kong, at the behest of the Chinese government.” The letter’s signees included Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and then GOP senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, who is now serving as the Secretary of State.