[4][5] Founded by Jimmy Lai and part of Next Media, Apple Daily was known for its sensational headlines, paparazzi photographs, and pro-democracy, anti-CCP editorial position.

[7] Apple Daily's editorial position favoring the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong made it a subject of advertising boycotts and political pressure.

[28] The offices of the paper were raided in 2020, its accounts frozen and five people including its editor Ryan Law and CEO Cheung Kim-hung were arrested in 2021.

[32] The film had a positive reception and showcased the final days of Apple Daily's operations before being shut down due to the Hong Kong national security law.

[40] The focus on large colourful graphics and more sensationalist stories, such as celebrity scandals, racist targeting of mainland immigrants, traffic accidents and deaths, quickly made Apple Daily Hong Kong's second most popular newspaper.

[41] In the same year, Apple Daily ran a front-page article claiming that lawyer Jessie Chu Siu Kuk-yuen absconded with more than HK$2 million of clients' money for her law firm.

[52] Critical of the Chinese government,[49]: 169  it was the only newspaper in Hong Kong that expressed optimism when Chen Shui-bian was re-elected President of the Republic of China in 2004.

According to Mark Simon, an executive of Next Digital, HSBC, Hang Seng and Standard Chartered stopped advertising in the newspaper in 2013 due to pressure from the Chinese government's Liaison Office.

[56] The newspaper inclined toward pro-Donald Trump misinformation during the 2020 United States presidential election, which was believed to relate to the former and current president's anti-Chinese xenophobia.

[57] In an opinion piece, it falsely claimed that "a vote for Trump is not only for the Americans' own interests, but it is also one that is for the survival of the free world"; in another commentary, it misleadingly criticized the Democratic Party and a "leftist ideology permeated in Western academia and journalism".

[58] Although the position of the newspaper and Jimmy Lai was echoed by many democracy activists in Hong Kong, Taiwan and exiled Chinese dissidents living in the United States,[59] democracy experts in the US like University of Kentucky professor Sharon Yam and Los Angeles-based AAPI activist and writer Promise Li considered these views problematic for the pro-democracy movement and agreed that they not only benefitted the mainland Chinese government, but were also instrumental in the organization of the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

[60][61] In September and October 2020, the newspaper published a factually inaccurate 64-page report produced by Typhoon Investigations untruthfully alleging Hunter Biden had a "problematic" connection with the Chinese Communist Party, which was widely cited by far-right influencers such as Steve Bannon and fellow anti-China activist Guo Wengui.

[62][63][64] A report by NBC linked the Typhoon Investigations to a fake "intelligence firm" and claimed that the author of the document, a self-identified Swiss security analyst named Martin Aspen, was a "fabricated identity".

[70][71][72] The arrests, coming amid Beijing's ongoing crackdown against many pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong, drew condemnation from international governments and human rights groups.

[93] Steve Li Kwai-wah, the Senior Superintendent from the new National Security Department, said they searched the area since one of the arrestees had an office on the assigned floor.

[98] International communities responded to Apple Daily's raid with condemnation, with global organisations highlighting the erosion of press freedom in Hong Kong.

[100] The Asia Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA-Asia) expressed their support for Apple Daily, and urged Hong Kong's leaders to uphold the values of free speech.

"[91][103] The Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) in Hong Kong was also critical about the police's obstruction of news coverage during the raid, raising worries about propaganda in the absence of press freedom.

[92] Human Rights Watch stated that the raid on Apple Daily may be motivated by a desire to censor an independent Chinese media outlet.

[72] The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the national security law was used to "suppress critical pro-democracy opinion and restrict press freedom", and called for Lai's immediate release.

[71] In contrast, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian approved of the mass arrests on the pro-democracy figures, stating that the Chinese government supported the national security law.

[111][112] A social media campaign encouraging the public to buy the newspaper was launched, and received backing of activist Joshua Wong, singer Pong Nan, and lawmaker Ted Hui.

"[115] Tsang Chi-ho, the former presenter of satirical news show Headliner, included a blank space in his regular column that simply said, "You can't kill us all.

They arrested CEO Cheung Kim-hung, COO Royston Chow, chief editor Ryan Law, associate publisher Chan Pui-man and platform director of Apple Daily Digital, Cheung Chi-wai, and charged them on suspicion of violating Article 29 of the national security law, which outlaws collusion with external forces to endanger national security.

[139] Apple editorialist "Li Ping" (Yeung Ching-kei) was arrested on 23 June "on suspicion of conspiring to collude with foreign countries or foreign forces to endanger national security",[140][141] Fung Wai-kong, editor-in-chief of the English news section at Apple, was arrested on 27 June at Hong Kong International Airport while attempting to flee the city.

Intensifying repression by Beijing has reached such a level that Apple Daily, a much-needed bastion of independent journalism in Hong Kong, has now ceased publishing.

Through arrests, threats, and forcing through a National Security Law that penalizes free speech, Beijing has insisted on wielding its power to suppress independent media and silence dissenting views.

[145] Taiwan similarly called the closure "political oppression" and that it "sounded the death knell for freedom of press, publication, and speech in Hong Kong".

[152] The European Parliament passed a motion by 578 votes to 29, with 73 abstentions, on Thursday, 8 July 2021, condemning "in the strongest terms the recent forced closure of [Apple Daily], the continued freezing of its assets and the arrests of its journalists."

It also demands the Hong Kong government to "stop harassing and intimidating journalists, release arbitrarily detained prisoners, and denounces any attempts to muzzle pro-democracy activists and their activities".