ICE tracking app: Apple bows to pressure from the public prosecutor's office

Under pressure from the US government, the technology company Apple has removed the controversial ICEBlock application from its App Store. The app made it possible to track and report the locations of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in real time.

Officially, Apple's app review team justified the blocking with a violation of the guidelines on offensive content, as Business Insider reports. The developer of the app, Joshua Aaron, rejected these accusations on the social network Bluesky as unfounded and announced that he would take legal action against the decision.

ICEBlock had gained popularity, particularly in the summer, and had climbed the charts of the App Store. The app allowed users to report sightings of ICE officers within an eight-kilometre radius and view them on a map. The platform had over 1.1 million users before it was removed.

US government: danger to the safety of officials

The US government argues that the app poses a threat to the safety of civil servants. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed to Fox News Digital that her department had directly asked Apple to remove the app – successfully. Bondi described the application as a dangerous tool that deliberately obstructs the work of ICE officials.

The Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, had previously loudly criticised the app as a form of obstruction of justice. Bondi took her argument one step further, arguing that ICEBlock does not fall under the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech.

The case is reminiscent of 2019, when Apple removed the HKMap app from the store. The application enabled protesters in Hong Kong to track the positions of police units. Apple CEO Tim Cook justified the deletion at the time with evidence of misuse: the app had been used to target individual police officers.

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