Apple blocks autocomplete for thousands of political words

Summarised from 2 outlets · 3 reports · Updated 6 Nov, 12:01 · Archive

Apple's iOS keyboard prevents autocomplete of tens of thousands of flagged words and phrases in multiple languages, including politically charged terms.

Apple maintains a hidden list of tens of thousands of words and phrases across multiple languages that its iOS keyboard will not autocomplete or suggest through swipe-typing, independent researcher Derik Kauffman said on Friday. The list has never been made public by Apple.

While iPhone users can still type these words directly, the keyboard will not suggest them through its predictive text features. According to Kauffman, most flagged words are vulgar or offensive or related to drugs, sex or violence. However, the list also includes politically charged phrases such as 'dictator Trump', 'sleepy Joe', 'right wing conspiracy', 'Tibetan independence' and 'United Ireland'.

The flagged words differ by language. In Hindi, the keyboard blocks 'Modi braggart' and 'Rahul is Pappu', references to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opposition figure Rahul Gandhi. French speakers cannot swipe-type 'immigration too high', while Hebrew speakers cannot swipe-type 'occupied territories'. Kauffman said every major language has some version of these restrictions.

How it is being reported

• Apple has a secret list of banned autocomplete phrases including ‘dictator Trump’ and ‘covid is a hoax’A researcher found over 100,000 words and phrases in "every major language" that are blocked from autocomplete and swipe-type in iOS, Reuters reports. The researcher, Derik Kauffman, says you can still type the words on the blocklist one letter at a time. But they won't pop up as predictive text suggestions and iOS's keyboard may […]The Verge · 6 Nov, 15:10
• The secret reason your iPhone will refuse to autocomplete certain political wordsApple has an undisclosed multilingual gray list of tens of thousands of words and phrases that its iOS keyboard will not autocomplete or swipe-type, a researcher said on FridayIndependent Tech · 6 Nov, 15:04
• The secret reason your iPhone will refuse to autocomplete certain political wordsApple has an undisclosed multilingual gray list of tens of thousands of words and phrases that its iOS keyboard will not autocomplete or swipe-type, a researcher said on FridayIndependent World · 6 Nov, 11:39

In this story: Apple · Derik Kauffman · Narendra Modi · Rahul Gandhi

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log