Chinese apps join celebs in backlash against Western brands over Xinjiang

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s top ride-hailing app dropped Swedish fashion retailer H&M from its listings as Chinese celebrities stopped endorsing foreign labels in a growing uproar over Western accusations of forced labour in Xinjiang.

H&M faced a public backlash in China when social media users in the country circulated a statement the company made last year announcing it would no longer source cotton from Xinjiang after reports of the use of forced labour by Uighur Muslims.

Western governments and rights groups have accused authorities in the farwestern region of detaining and torturing Uighurs in camps, where some former inmates have said they were subject to ideological indoctrination.