Researcher Uncovers Extensive List of Banned Autocomplete Phrases in Apple iOS
A researcher, Derik Kauffman, has discovered a massive list containing over 100,000 blocked words and phrases within the iOS keyboard system. The data, which was stored as a hash table, prevents specific terms from appearing in predictive text or swipe-typing suggestions across multiple major languages. While many of the blocked entries consist of slurs, offensive language, or topics related to drugs and sex, the list also includes various political phrases such as 'dictator Trump' and 'covid was a hoax.' The discovery has raised questions regarding content moderation and potential bias in Apple's predictive algorithms. Apple stated that its keyboard is designed to avoid inappropriate suggestions but noted that users retain the ability to manually type any phrase or override predictions. The research utilized AI tools from OpenAI and Anthropic to extract and decode the hidden list.
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Topics: Autocomplete censorship Content moderation Data privacy iOS