Apple hides political terms and divides opinions on censorship

The technology giant Apple has implemented a strict restriction on its cell phone keyboard that directly affects the American political debate. According to Revista Oeste, the company added terms such as "Dictator Trump" and "Sleepy Joe" to an internal block list that prevents automatic suggestions to iPhone users.

The discovery was released on Friday, 6, by security researcher Derik Kauffman, according to Revista Oeste. The survey revealed that the catalogue, nicknamed the gray list, contains approximately one hundred thousand words and expressions vetoed by the device's autocorrection and term suggestion system.

According to data collected by Revista Oeste, the repertoire of blocks is not just limited to traditional offenses. The official list includes profanity, as well as explicit references to sex, drugs and violence, mixing behavioral terms with sensitive partisan political agendas.

Also according to Revista Oeste, the restrictive selection covers complex geopolitical themes and sensitive ideological expressions. Among the examples identified by the researcher are terms such as "Right wing conspiracy", "Tibetan independence" and "United Ireland", demonstrating a broad restriction of public debates.

What changes for the investor

For those operating on Wall Street, episodes of content control and corporate moderation bring to light important regulatory debates about the role of big technology companies in freedom of expression. The market is closely monitoring how investigations into censorship practices or bias could attract antitrust scrutiny, political pressure in Washington and potential changes to the operating guidelines of companies listed on the Nasdaq index.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.