By Islam El-Sakka
Apple's iOS keyboard contains an undisclosed multilingual list of tens of thousands of words and phrases that it will not autocomplete or swipe-type, independent researcher Derik Kauffman revealed Friday. The list, which Kauffman estimates at roughly 100,000 entries excluding Chinese characters, is not a ban — users can still type any word manually — but it prevents the keyboard from suggesting flagged terms through predictive text or swipe-typing.
Politically sensitive phrases among flagged terms
The gray list is overwhelmingly composed of vulgar, offensive, or violent language, as well as references to drugs and sex, Kauffman said. However, it also includes politically salient phrases such as "dictator Trump," "sleepy Joe," "right wing conspiracy," "Tibetan independence," and "United Ireland." Non-English languages have their own flagged phrases: Hindi blocks "Modi braggart" and "Rahul is Pappu," French blocks "immigration too high," and Hebrew blocks "occupied territories."
Inconsistent application raises questions
Kauffman said Apple's filtering is applied inconsistently. For example, "read smut" can be swipe-typed while "read gay smut" cannot. "It's a very light-touch form of censorship," Kauffman said. "But at the scale that Apple is operating, it only takes a light touch to have a big impact." Reuters tested a subset of the phrases and confirmed they were difficult to enter via swipe-typing or were not suggested in autocomplete.
Apple responds
In an email, Apple did not comment directly on the list's size, composition, or reasons for flagging specific political terms. The company said its keyboard is designed to avoid offering suggestions that might be inappropriate or offensive, and that users always have the option to type specific words and override predictive suggestions.
Independent verification
Matt Suiche, an engineer at cybersecurity firm Tolmo, independently recovered the same gray list and cross-referenced Kauffman's findings against Apple's internal data, reporting a near-perfect match. Suiche said the list had been hidden in plain sight for years, offering insight into how human communication may have been filtered inside messaging apps.
Digital rights concerns
David Greene, senior counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called the word list "creepy" and questioned Apple's judgment calls, but acknowledged an argument for curbing unwanted suggestions. "If they are going to do it, this is something users should be really well aware of and have some ability to customize," Greene said. "This is something that should not be secret."
