Protestors are gathering outside of a Portland, Oregon Apple Store, as singing and dancing Santas has joined others outside of the store to potest the removal of the ICEBlock app from the App Store.
On December 9, a few dozen protestors made an appearance outside of the Apple Pioneer Place store. The protest was coordinated, and even has its own “Protest Apple’s Censorship” event page. According to the page, two more protests are scheduled to take place before Christmas, on December 13 and December 20 from 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. PST.
The ICEBlock app offered crowdsourced updates about ICE sightings within a 5-mile radius of a user’s location.
Apple removed the app from the App Store in October, following a demand by Attorney General Pam Bondi to have the app removed. The government claims the app was being used to target and harm ICE agents as they performed their duties. While the app is no longer available in the App Store, it’s believed to still work on iOS devices.
Apple has since also removed other ICE-related apps from the App Store, including those that do not reveal geolocation data.
For example, Apple removed the Eyes Up app, which served as an archive to store videos and articles recording actions taken by ICE. The app was preserved videos from TikToks, Instagram reels, news reports, and other content the creators says would document ICE abuses.
“We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps,” Apple told Business Insider. “Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store.”
It should be noted that Google has also removed all ICE-related Android apps from its Google Play Store.
Apple has walked a tightrope in recent years, attempting to keep users happy, while also keeping its investors and multiple governments – including the United Kingdom, China, Russia, and the US – happy. The company likely feel that awhile protests like these don’t cast the company in a favorable light, they’re easier to deal with than additional tariffs and government sanctions.
The Portland protests are unlikely to result in the app’s return to the App Store, although they will let Apple know that many of their users are unhappy about the removal of ICEBlock and other ICE-related apps.
The protest come following an announcement by Joshua Aaron, the developer of ICEBlock, that he had filed a federal complaint in the District of Columbia demanding a jury trial. The complaint alleges that there have been unconstitutional threats placed against Apple and Aaron, which were a violation of Aaron’s First Amendment rights.
Protestors will show up outside of the Portland store at least two more times, where they are encouraged to join in several “carols” written especially for the protests, including “Surveille ICE” (sung to the tune of Silent Night), “Do You Fear What I Fear?,” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot More Fascist.” (No, seriously, the lyrics to these and several other holiday protest “classics” are available on the protest’s event page.)
