Apple's predictive text restrictions include 'Dictator Trump' and 'Sleepy Joe,' researcher finds
AAPL•A researcher found an undisclosed multilingual list of about 100,000 words and phrases that Apple's iOS keyboard generally will not autocomplete or swipe-type. Apple said users can still type any words and that the keyboard avoids suggesting potentially inappropriate or offensive terms.
1. Undisclosed gray list
Researcher Derik Kauffman said Apple has an undisclosed multilingual list of words and phrases that iOS generally will not autocomplete or swipe-type. He estimated the list contains about 100,000 entries and variations, excluding Chinese characters; it includes offensive, drug-related and politically salient phrases such as “dictator Trump” and “sleepy Joe.”
2. How it works
The list does not prevent users from typing the words when drafting emails or texts, but it can affect autocomplete and swipe-typing. Apple said users can override predictive text suggestions and that its keyboard is designed to avoid offering potentially inappropriate or offensive suggestions. Testing of a small subset found phrases were difficult to swipe-type or were not suggested by autocomplete.
3. Calls for transparency
Kauffman said the list has inconsistencies, and digital civil liberties lawyer David Greene said users should be informed and have some ability to customize it. Engineer Matt Suiche said he independently recovered the list and found a near-perfect match with Kauffman's findings.
