Contact: Caroline Rabbitt (202) 224-2353

Washington, D.C.- Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today released the following statement on reports that Apple removed the New York Times app from its app store in China:

"It's a sad day when a great American company becomes complicit in Communist censorship of an American newspaper. Apple could have leveraged its position to push for more openness in China, but it instead sought to protect its market access at the expense of liberty. Apple's protestations that it's merely complying with Chinese law ring hollow when, just last year, it openly challenged a U.S. court order to assist a terrorism investigation and unlock the iPhone of a dead ISIS terrorist. The common theme running through Apple's actions is not principle, but short-term profit. And the ultimate consequence will be a future that is more closed, less prosperous, and much darker."