Apple has a secret list of banned autocomplete phrases including ‘dictator Trump’ and ‘covid is a hoax’
A researcher discovered that Apple's iOS keyboard includes a hidden list of over 100,000 phrases blocked from predictive text and swipe-typing. The list includes offensive terms as well as specific political phrases like 'dictator Trump' and 'covid is a hoax'.
Why it matters
This raises questions about corporate content moderation and the extent to which tech companies influence digital discourse through predictive text algorithms.
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 automatically alter them when swipe-typing, like changing “left wing conspiracy” to “left wrong conspiracy.”
Kauffman posted the full list online, including the individual lists for different languages.
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