U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Thursday said U.S. technology companies including Apple have been “all too willing” to collaborate with China’s Communist Party.
Robert Schroeder for MarketWatch:
Speaking at the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich., Barr said that “over the years, corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple have shown themselves all too willing to collaborate with the CCP.”
Barr listed as an example Apple’s removal of the Quartz news app from its app store in China, following a Chinese government complaint…
Last week, FBI Director Chris Wray said China was trying to “compromise” American companies and institutions doing COVID-19 research.
Barr’s remarks begin at 43:28 in the video below:
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote last October (Apple CEO Tim Cook’s continued kowtowing to China is a very bad look):
There exists a dichotomy that screams hypocrisy that is impossible to overlook:
Two phrases immediately spring to mind:
• Do as I say, not as I do.
• Talking the talk, but not walking the walk.
Accepting awards, plaudits, and board positions for “free speech” and “human rights” while banning publications and protest apps are tough actions to reconcile due to their diametrically opposed nature.
For how long can Tim Cook, and by extension, Apple, get away with positioning themselves as the world’s white knight while kowtowing to every whim of the Chinese authoritarian socialist censors?
This is about leadership, or lack thereof.
Obviously, in recent days, this all seems to be coming to a head, but it’s been building for years.
• Apple removes Quartz news app from App Store in China over Hong Kong coverage – October 10, 2019
• Apple kowtows to China by censoring Taiwan flag emoji – October 7, 2019
• Apple Music censors songs in China that reference Tiananmen massacre, democracy – April 9, 2019
• Apple removes VPN apps from China App Store – July 29, 2017
• In bid to improve censorship, China to summon Apple execs to discuss stricter App Store oversight – April 20, 2017
• Apple removes New York Times apps from App Store in China at behest of Chinese government – January 4, 2017
“China is critical for Apple in every way from sales to product assembly, so Apple continues to kowtow to China. With Apple’s strong stance – in other places of the world – on users’ rights and privacy, it’s a bad look for the company and a tough tightrope that Tim Cook — [winner of Newseum’s 2017 Free Expression Award in the Free Speech category, no less] — is trying to walk.” — MacDailyNews, July 29, 2017
Closing quotes:
• “It’s about finding your values, and committing to them. It’s about finding your North Star. It’s about making choices. Some are easy. Some are hard. And some will make you question everything.” — Tim Cook
• “You don’t have to choose between doing good and doing well. It’s a false choice, today more than ever.” — Tim Cook
• “You want to be the pebble in the pond that creates the ripple for change.” — Tim Cook
• “There are times in all of our lives when a reliance on gut or intuition just seems more appropriate — when a particular course of action just feels right. And interestingly I’ve discovered it’s in facing life’s most important decisions that intuition seems the most indispensable to getting it right.” — Tim Cook
• “For some things where we… [have] a strong point of view, we’re not shy. We’ll stand up, speak out – even when our voice shakes.” — Tim Cook
• “The most important thing is, Do you have the courage to admit that you’re wrong? And do you change? The most important thing to me as a CEO is that we keep the courage.” — Tim Cook