Apple's iPhone autocomplete is reportedly avoiding or refusing to suggest certain politically charged phrases tied to Donald Trump and COVID-19.
One report says the company keeps a secret list of banned autocomplete phrases. It names "dictator Trump" and "covid is a hoax" among the entries.
The reported list
The claim concerns the predictive text feature built into the iPhone keyboard, which offers word and phrase suggestions as people type. According to the report, suggestions are held back for the listed phrases rather than appearing as they would for ordinary wording.
Apple has not been shown to have published any such list. The existence of the list rests on a single outlet's account, and the company has not set out its own position in the reporting so far.
The phrases involved sit at the sharp end of political and public health argument. One refers to the US president in the harshest terms, the other to a claim about the pandemic that health authorities have rejected.
Impact on users
The iPhone is widely used in the UK, so any restriction built into the keyboard would reach users here as well as in the US. The report does not say whether the reported behaviour differs by country or language setting.
Further developments depend on whether Apple responds to the claim. Confirmation of the list, or an explanation of how its autocomplete decisions are made, would settle whether the phrases are blocked deliberately or as a side effect of how the feature works.
Logo: Apple
