The article says it's to share news with tourists in HK, who would have previously been behind the firewall. > But news of the protest has been heavily censore

The article says it's to share news with tourists in HK, who would have previously been behind the firewall. > But news of the protest has been heavily censored in mainland China, with any mention of the mass movement wiped off the Chinese internet. > Hong Kong’s protesters have therefore turned to Apple’s AirDrop feature to get their message across to their mainland Chinese compatriots. That the messages are written in simplified Chinese—Hong Kongers use traditional Chinese—confirm that the intended audience is Chinese tourists.