Unlike some tech companies that pretend not to be biased, Apple and its leaders are very proud of their censorship efforts. CEO Tim Cook said proudly in 2018, “At Apple, we are not afraid to say that our values drive our curation decisions. And why should we be?” He added that, “Division has no home here.”
Those “values” included advocating for the LGBTQ community and funding the left-wing group Southern Poverty Law Council, whose “hate map” was directly tied to a shooting at the Family Research Council.
The global tech company worth more than $1 trillion makes many decisions according to its “values.” Apple News dumped LifeSiteNews claiming it “shows intolerance toward a specific group.” It’s App Store rejected free-speech, Twitter alternative Gab. Apple also dropped conspiracy theorists’ InfoWars podcasts and the InfoWars app in 2018. Apple has also removed a geologists’ app which challenged climate alarmism, Living Hope Ministries and the pro-life Human Coalition, according to the National Legal and Policy Center.
So far, lawsuits against social media and tech companies (which included Apple) over its censorship have failed.
Tim Cook also has ties to China, as the chairman of a Chinese business school. Apple took down an app used by Hong Kong protesters, seemingly to appease the communist Chinese government.
- Apple News booted pro-life publication LifeSiteNews in 2019 after it worked two years to get on the platform. The only explanation Apple provided was it "shows intolerance towards a specific group."
- Accepting the Anti-Defamation League’s first “Courage Against Hate Award,” CEO Tim Cook said, “We only have one message for those who seek to push hate, division, and violence. You have no place on our platforms. You have no home here.”
- In August 2018, Apple removed five of six InfoWars’ podcasts from its platform, saying, “Apple does not tolerate hate speech.” At that point, the InfoWars app could still be found in the App Store, but Apple also banned the app a month later.
- Apple rejected the Gab app and wouldn’t allow it into the App Store unless Gab agreed to censor “objectionable content.”
- In addition to giving $1 million to the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center, Apple told its employees it would match their donations $2 for every $1. It also released an iTunes ad encouraging people to support SPLC’s work “fighting hate,” even though the left-wing group’s “hate map” lists conservative, Christian organizations alongside true hate groups simply because they support traditional marriage.
- After CNN threatened a Reddit user for creating an image of President Donald Trump punching the company logo, reviews of the CNN app in the Apple store tanked to 1-star. Then the rating mysteriously disappeared to be replaced with “We have not received enough ratings to display an average for this app.” It begged the question: Did Apple help hide CNN’s drop in popularity?
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