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French app to show support for Je Suis Charlie campaign approved in one hour after contacting Tim Cook

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As iOS developers will know, it can take a while to get a new iPhone app approved, with one online tracker showing that the average time is currently around ten days. The developers of a free app enabling people to express support for the Je Suis Charlie campaign following the terrorist attack in France didn’t want to wait. French news agency Nice-Matin emailed Tim Cook to request an expedited review, an assistant replied ten minutes later promising a review within the hour, and the app is now online.

Literally translated as “I am Charlie,” the phrase voices support for freedom of speech and a refusal to be silenced by terrorists …

The I Charlie! app is a simple one, allowing you to add your location to a map, indicating your support for the campaign. While it’s primarily aimed at those in France, the developers say they hope that iPhone users in other countries will also join the campaign.

Apple added a Je Suis Charlie footer to its French website in the wake of the attack, and Google recently donated $300k to help the Charlie Hebdo magazine achieve a 1m print run in its next edition.

Via iPhon.fr

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Comments

  1. philboogie - 9 years ago

    I think that’s just great of Tim/Apple: they cut right through corporate obstacles and make things happen. Very Richard Branson like…

    • deanbergen - 9 years ago

      Yes, if there is any company that supports freedom of expression and speech it sure is Apple /s

      • samuelsnay - 9 years ago

        There’s a time and a place to be a dick. This isn’t it.

      • Robert Dupuy - 9 years ago

        Apple’s app store truly is a place where ideas could be communicated, but they have a long history of non-support of freedom of expression. Apple ban’s the Dalai Lama app in China – as one example. They routinely ban political apps, if they deem them critical. And Charlie Hebdo style nudity is certainly banned. It’s a valid point. Apple has a keen sense of the market – and no commitment to freedom of expression.

  2. Adding your support is great. Adding your location to a map, maybe not so great.

    • 89p13 - 9 years ago

      If you are afraid to support this – then the terrorists have won!

      Think about that

      • rahhbriley - 9 years ago

        I thought about it. I refuse for anyone to tell me what lets the terrorist win or not. Think about that.

      • nickjeremiah - 9 years ago

        This app can give bad people knowledge of where Je Suis Charlie supporters are to do bad things to them. This is a great tool for bad people to do bad things. I think it’s great in a way, but I also think it’s a bad idea.

  3. Robert Li - 9 years ago

    Insults based on race, color, religion for the purpose of building wealth isn’t what free speech is meant to be all about.

  4. eyeslevel - 9 years ago

    Free speech for blasphemers, jail time for Emma West?

  5. John Cram - 9 years ago

    How about this for a change, lets keep the comments to the app/TimC/Apple. Pretty rock star level if you can make something, ANYTHING happen in the (large) corporate world (in one hour). I’m so “non-Apple” but this one deserves a tip of the hat.

  6. Christopher Barlow - 9 years ago

    Why is the British media so scared of reprinting the charlie hebdo cartoons, just like the government they dare not upset anyone, yet the islamists can do and say what they want which is often repeated in the main stream media. Get some backbone stand up to these morons and satirise this evil religious sect.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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