OBJC_ASSOCIATION_COPY should be viewed as a strong reference?

[Kam-To]

OBJC_ASSOCIATION_COPY and OBJC_ASSOCIATION_COPY_NONATOMIC specifies that the associated object is copied, which means that the object has a strong reference to the associated value (in my understanding).

Is that any special consideration to ignore this reference in the function below? 🤔

static void fb_objc_setAssociatedObject(id object, void *key, id value, objc_AssociationPolicy policy) {
  {
    std::lock_guard<std::mutex> l(*_associationMutex);
    // Track strong references only
    if (policy == OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN ||
        policy == OBJC_ASSOCIATION_RETAIN_NONATOMIC) {
      _threadUnsafeSetStrongAssociation(object, key, value);
    } else {
      // We can change the policy, we need to clear out the key
      _threadUnsafeResetAssociationAtKey(object, key);
    }
  }