Apple CEO Cook defends removal of police-tracking app used in Hong Kong

FILE PHOTO: Apple CEO Tim Cook gestures during a product launch event at their headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S., September 10, 2019. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook on Thursday defended the iPhone maker's decision to remove from its app store a police-tracking app used by protesters in Hong Kong, according to a copy of a letter to employees seen by Reuters and confirmed by Apple.

In the message on an internal Apple website, Cook said the information in the app, including crowdsourced locations of police checkpoints and protest hotspots, was on its own "benign."