After a 16-month antitrust investigation into competitive practices at Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust on Tuesday released its findings and recommendations on how to reform laws to fit the digital age.
As a new report found that employees at Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Oracle have contributed nearly 20 times as much money to Democrat challenger Joe Biden as to republican President Donald Trump since the beginning of 2019, the Democrat-led report concludes that the four “Big Tech” companies enjoy monopoly power and suggest Congress take up changes to antitrust laws that could result in parts of their businesses being separated. Republicans have voiced objections to some of the bolder proposals in the report, like imposing structural separations.
Apple in a statement to MacRumors said that it strongly disagrees with the conclusions reached in the report in respect to Apple, and that Apple does not have dominant market share in categories where it does business.
We have always said that scrutiny is reasonable and appropriate but we vehemently disagree with the conclusions reached in this staff report with respect to Apple. Our company does not have a dominant market share in any category where we do business. From its beginnings 12 years ago with just 500 apps, we’ve built the App Store to be a safe and trusted place for users to discover and download apps and a supportive way for developers to create and sell apps globally. Hosting close to two million apps today, the App Store has delivered on that promise and met the highest standards for privacy, security and quality. The App Store has enabled new markets, new services and new products that were unimaginable a dozen years ago, and developers have been primary beneficiaries of this ecosystem. Last year in the United States alone, the App Store facilitated $138 billion in commerce with over 85% of that amount accruing solely to third-party developers. Apple’s commission rates are firmly in the mainstream of those charged by other app stores and gaming marketplaces. Competition drives innovation, and innovation has always defined us at Apple. We work tirelessly to deliver the best products to our customers, with safety and privacy at their core, and we will continue to do so.
Apple plans to provide a more in-depth refutation of the allegations levied against the company by the antitrust subcommittee in the near future.
In a new report, WIRED found that employees at Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Oracle have contributed nearly 20 times as much money to Biden as to Trump since the beginning of 2019. In the 2020 election cycle, 98.59% of Twitter employees contributed to Democrats with 1.41% contributing to Republican candidates, according to OpenSecrets.
President Trump and other Republicans often complain that Silicon Valley has an anti-conservative bias. A review of campaign finance data shows that contributions by employees at some of America’s biggest tech companies are overwhelmingly going to his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.
According to data released by the Federal Election Commission, which requires individuals who contribute $200 or more to a presidential campaign to report their employer, employees at these six companies have contributed $4,787,752 to Biden and just $239,527 to Trump.
95.76% of Apple employee contributions go to Joe Biden
Employees at Alphabet are Biden’s biggest financial backers in Silicon Valley, having donated just shy of $1.8 million, more than one-third of the money raised from employees of the six companies. An analysis by Open Secrets, a campaign finance watchdog, found that contributions from Alphabet’s employees and political action committee to the Biden campaign collectively exceed those from any other company. In fact, according to Open Secrets, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple account for five of the seven largest donors to the Biden campaign on that basis.
WIRED’s analysis shows that employees at these six companies are contributing substantially more to both nominees than during the 2016 election. Donations to the Biden campaign are nearly twice those made to Hillary Clinton’s over the same period four years ago; Trump has raised more than four times as much money from employees at the six companies.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple should not be lumped in with actual monopolist abusers like Alphabet/Google.
Again, the fact is that Apple has no monopoly in smartphones, so Apple is incapable of committing monopoly abuse.
Worldwide smartphone OS market share, September 2020:
• Android: 74.44%
• iOS: 24.98%
I don’t think anybody reasonable is going to come to the conclusion that Apple is a monopoly. Our share is much more modest. We don’t have a dominant position in any market… We are not a monopoly. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, June 2019
As for Google, the biggest offender in “Big Tech,” impose any remedies that restore competition to online search and online advertising.
For how long will Tim Cook and his minions continue to support the very party that looks to destroy the house that Steve Jobs built?
You reap what you sow.
Until we get the asshole that is in the White House out and is killing the country out.
Apple employees may disagree with Democrats on the monopoly question but agree on the majority of other policies.
CCP is the only blame for global pandemic. WHO lied on behalf of CCP. Taiwan was censored by WHO (puppets of CCP). Democrat weaponize the pandemic for political power. Trumps biggest mistakes was to listen to Dr. Fuci. Trump also made wearing mask political but he was mislead by CDC so to him its was just another attack. Remember while Virus was seeding across America, the Demon cats where busy with impeachment. Maybe Trump response would have beed different is not for 4 years of constant attacks on Trump.
You are incapable of logical thinking and blindly follow your politics like a religion.
Only thing worse then blind support for Tump is blind hate for Trump. You are a hater. Truth means nothing. Even if you had facts, you would never change your low resolution mind.
Look, I get that Trump has been under attack since day 1, but in many cases it was for good reason. Every one makes mistakes, but Trump never admits to them. And it certainly appears that he conflates loyalty with supporting him on every issue, so to him any dissenting opinion is an “attack” instead of “being honest.”
The reality is that Trump has said things that were simply untrue about COVID. He continues to “show strength” by taking off his mask, instead of “leading by example.”
Did China lie? Of course! What did anyone really expect from a totalitarian regime. 7 new cases yesterday? BS. But in deaths per million, the US is number 10, with Spain and Belgium being the only economies that are of comparable development (I think) with a higher number. When India surpasses the number of deaths in the US, is anyone really going to say that the public health system is equivalent?
In the face of the facts behind COVID, I find it surprising that anyone can support him on it – unless they are doing it on “blind faith.”
As long as Republicans continue to be anti-science and led by the biggest liar the presidency has ever known.
Maybe Silicon Valley has an anti-conservative bias in general, but much more strongly, Silicon Valley has an anti-bullshit bias.
Silicon Valley also has a lot of LGBT, immigrant, minority, and women employees in high-paying jobs. They, like everyone else, tend to vote for their own self-interest. The policies, and even more so the rhetoric, of the Trump-Pence ticket is enormously more hostile to all those groups than Biden-Harris.
Stop lying, liar.
We love you, President Trump!
“I am the Emperor Napoleon,” said a patient at the State Hospital. What other evidence is there for either of those claims?
This patient wasn’t per chance you, was it? Sounds like it.
That, or you simply swallow the MSM narrative without bothering to expend any real effort to educate yourself.
Democrats talk about stuff (to garner votes from the ignorant). Republicans are actually doing important, meaningful things to help and support the LGBTQ community.
I’ve fought for civil rights for gay Americans for the past four decades. Today, the Republican Party is delivering real results and leadership for our community.
Today, thanks in large part to the leadership of President Donald Trump, the party has delivered meaningful policy victories for gays and lesbians.
It should come as no surprise that Trump’s agenda has been a boon to the gay community. Through his philanthropic work over the years with charities combating the AIDS crisis, his previous support of amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation, and his early support of gay couples having the same rights and protections as straight couples, Trump was an ally long before he was president. He is likely even the first private club owner in Palm Beach, Florida, to admit an openly gay couple.
In 2019, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced that pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Inc., would donate pre-exposure prophylaxis medication for uninsured, high-risk HIV individuals.
As part of the president’s “Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America” initiative, this medication, which could run up to as much as $20,000 per patient, per year, would be distributed to up to 200,000 individuals each year through at least Dec. 31, 2025.
The Trump plan is focused on communities most in need and has received support from those who have been involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
In similar fashion, Trump announced during Pride Month in 2019 that his administration was launching a global campaign to end the criminalization of homosexuality. His leadership on this issue couldn’t be more necessary — even in 2020, 72 countries still identify same-sexual orientation as criminal, including eight where it is punishable by death.
This campaign was spearheaded by former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, an openly gay member of the administration who subsequently served as acting director of U.S. national intelligence, becoming the first openly gay Cabinet member in our history. In coordination with the United Nations, the European Union and other human rights organizations, the campaign’s goal is to pressure nations into ending homophobic laws, securing the safety and freedom of all LGBT individuals throughout the world.
America has come a long way in accepting the gay community, and though I’m proud of where we are, I know there is still more work to be done. As November approaches, it’s vital to elect someone who will continue this progress. That’s why in 2019, Log Cabin Republicans, the nation’s largest organization of LGBT conservatives, endorsed President Donald Trump for reelection.
— Robert Kabel, author of “Inside and Out: The Odyssey of a Gay Conservative”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2020/08/20/donald-trump-lgbtq-lgbt-gay-rights-republican-equality-column/5605491002/
On the other hand, we have this
https://www.hrc.org/news/the-list-of-trumps-unprecedented-steps-for-the-lgbtq-community
And this
https://www.hrc.org/resources/trumps-timeline-of-hate
Get a SPINE! Your gonna need a whole wheel of cheez to go along with your whine. Wha, Wha, Fckin’ WHA! You fit the perfect MO of Charity Case. Yes you are in need. In need of a class, a class teaching common sense 101. Tx proves to me that our education system in the USA has indeed failed us.
…. “LGBT, immigrant, minority, and women employees in high-paying jobs.”
You fool, these high paying jobs are all going to the CCP China when the Dems crush GREAT American componies.
Do a little research and see how “LGBT, immigrant, minority, and women” make out under CCP government. Lets see : Forced labor, Forced sterilization, organ harvesting, …
ask the people of color, religious groups and ethic minorities how living under the CCP is working out…
Funny how Dems, Apple, Disney, NBA and so many others constantly remind Americans about all the sins of Americas “systematic” racist past but are silent on the CCP’s racist present and Future…
“America should be ashamed for its past history of slavery and treatment of minorities” What about CCP china slavery and human rights in 2020 ” O come on man, they are good folks”
That’s a reasonable theory, but somehow I think the biggest reason is culture. When you visit the Apple campus, it’s a sea of white faces, a smattering of Indian faces, mostly male. Most of these people have been through the American university system which is a mind warping indoctrination machine for leftist nonsense like Postmodernism, Marxism, critical theory, and so on. The company is constantly virtue signaling leftist crap with the ceo as head cheer leader for the BS.
Many things I take issue with in your statements, but my question for you is:
Does Apple gain more customers through its virtue signalling than it loses, or vice versa?
If Apple believes it gains more customers as a result, is it purely virtue signalling, or is it brand marketing?
You clearly don’t agree with it, but is it enough to put you off the brand? Would any level of virtue signalling be enough to get you off the brand?
Just curious.
As I pointed out on another thread, Postmodernism isn’t just “leftist nonsense.” The notion that there is no objective truth or ethical standards, but only alternative facts driven by the believers’ ideology and will to power, is an essential (perhaps THE essential) element of Trumpism.
What’s the solution? Equal opportunity hiring for conservatives? Should there be conservative quotas? That would be unfortunate, as you’re not going to find a lot of disciples of the president in the technology or science fields. Then what’s next, equal opportunities for liberals in country music?
I think, at least for now, Apple should be left out of this mix given that their smart phone has a lower market share. Computers too.
What doesn’t surprise me is the huge disparity in contributions. People who work at these companies are college educated. Trump supporterrs are not which is also crystal clear from the continuous and often foul-mouthed dreck spewed in some of these MDN discussions….unless our eastern Komrades here (FT and GoeB for example) do have an education but also a nefarious purpose.
“People who work at these companies are college educated. Trump supporterrs are not…” You have proof of this right?
People with college educations would understand what I wrote…probably because they read news media, you know, the FAKE news as you call it.
You sound offended by this….why?
All these companies are in the tech industry. By default that generally requires training in engineering, computer science etc. that is provide in a college degree.
I thought that would’ve been obvious but clearly it had to be spelt out for you.
Never discount brainwashing, it’s a powerful tool wielded by the left throughout the U.S. “educational” process.
There is no denying the left-leaning political bias on American college campuses. Data show that the professoriate has moved considerably leftward since the late 1980s… In New England, where my own university is located, liberal professors outnumber their conservative colleagues by a ratio of 28:1. — Michael Roth, President, Wesleyan University
College educated in the U.S. very often means leftist indoctrinated.
“If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain.” — Edmund Burke
In 2016, white voters with a college degree supported Clinton 55-38%. Whites without a degree supported Trump 64-28%. Your explanation for this is that college graduates are dumber than non-graduates. Odd, then, that there is such a high proportion of brain surgeons with college degrees. Of course, a relevant education clearly is detrimental for those who wish to influence government policy on technology, the environment, or epidemiology.
Het Tx! Those “College Degreed” who supported Clinton in 2016…. are from the very same cloth as AOC. Ignorant to the Constitution. Have you ever read “The Bill of Rights” Tx? NOTHING COMES FOR FREE! Get to work Tx. Get educated. Get a REAL job.
I had a real job as a lawyer for forty years, including thirty as a criminal prosecutor who pursued hate crimes, among other things. I can see how you might not see that as useful employment. You might try reading the Bill of Rights yourself, particularly the parts about the government not interfering with free press, speech, assembly, religion, or petition.
TxUser. A trial lawyer who backs Democrats. SHOCKER!
I was never a “trial lawyer,” the segment of the Bar that represents individual plaintiffs in personal injury and similar causes of action. Those folks do tend to be Democrats, because the lawyers who represent corporate defendants have used their Republican connections to sponsor “lawsuit reform” that has sharply limited the rights of individuals who have suffered losses.
I was a prosecutor, a profession that is composed almost exclusively of strong law and order advocates who vote Republican even in Democrat-majority jurisdictions. I’m sorry if you cannot grasp the distinction between law and arbitrary state power and between order and excessive state violence.
You seem to have a great deal of problems reading and comprehending even the most simplest statements. That, or you are intentionally obfuscating because you don’t like the implication of and cannot refute my clearly stated position (as usual).
Nowhere do I state, nor have I ever stated, “that college graduates are dumber than non-graduates” as you so misleadingly (or vapidly) claim.
What I wrote is exceedingly clear: “Never discount brainwashing, it’s a powerful tool wielded by the left throughout the U.S. ‘educational’ process… College educated in the U.S. very often means leftist indoctrinated.”
Just as you can be taught to be a brain surgeon, you can be taught to vote only for Democrats, as the vast majority of U.S. colleges and universities do.
Google the studies, I’m not doing your research for you. I already understand the issue fully.
You are saying that college graduates are more vulnerable to brainwashing than non-graduates. That sounds like a claim that they are less intelligent.
FirstThen… EXACTLY. Boom!
College educated in the U.S. very often means leftist indoctrinated.
Steve Jobs dropped out of college.
College is good at teaching people how to copy what other people think. All great minds are ahead of college. College is good at teaching you what others think, not so good at teaching original ideas and creativity. Today many college degrees are great at teaching people their place in the liberal hive mind.
No great artist or original thinker learned genius in college. College is like a bunch of tools; only as good as the hands that use them. Greatness comes from within. Thats why so many modern universities graduates so many fools. You can’t make what is not there.
Look at TX he has more degrees than everyone on the board and he is still low resolution. (im joking)
TxUser, you are PROOF that educated does not mean smart!
Steve Jobs left college after the first year… later higher eduction gave him a degree to claim them as his own. But Steve Jobs was a college drop out. And you stayed in college for your full time and look at your weak mind.
Modern university is a wheel chair (metaphor) for the mind where the weak get pushed around. Real minds blow past the farce by junior high. You can’t teach genius but you can sure restrict it with really high taxes.
College students are dumber in many ways, But the chief issue is the indoctrination into leftist insanity by nutcase college professors.
People are taught to hate the United States, that the only thing that has ever happened in the United States is slavery,they are pushed to despise western culture in general, they are bathed in neo-Marxism, postmodernism, critical [X] theory where x = race, gender, or class. They are drenched in neo-racism, where literally everything is racist, and they come out highly educated morons, and their poor parents wondering if this is what they got for their $175,000 dollars.
As my late great father used to say, during my college “I hate America” days… “so after four years you’re a competent technician without a goddamn ounce of common sense.”
oh REALLY! See my post below. Do you ponder iAm not college educated? Also where are your statistics?
Well said, Trumptards are a bunch of racist, uneducated, ignorant yahoos who are dumber than Forest Gump. Actually that’s an insult to Gump who’s smarter than Trump Supporters.
Hey Benny, these days when you call someone a racist, it’s an immediate indicator that you’re an idiot with nothing relevant to say. It’s like calling someone Hitler. Save it for your mates and the barista at your local coffee klatch. Otherwise you’ll just get laughed at.
You don’t get to choose who is “Left Out” The marxist will crush them all. USA leadership and Big Tech is dead. Welcome to your CCP masters. you will bow
A fool and their money are soon parted.
A taxpayer voting for Democrats is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.
It doesn’t make alot of difference to whom these employees donate to, since they’re in California. Cali is a landslide state for the Dems. And donation limits will limit how much they can give. Considering how much is spent, the amounts are just a tiny drop in the ocean.
Why is this a one star comment. It’s true.
You listen to a politician making a speech, and it is like hearing nothing. Whereas, music is unmistakably music. The thing about music is that nobody listens to it unless it’s real. I don’t think that you can fool anybody for too long in music. And you certainly can’t fool everybody.
Jerry Garcia
Anybody here ever heard of the term “Think Different”?
Biden/Harris ticket is Marxist Group (Mob) Thought & Mentality. (Add “peaceful” riots and the deep state media who ignore such righteous organizations such as BLM. It is a SHAM.
If you don’t vote for Biden/Harris “You ain’t BLACK”.. Joe Biden Quote. SICK
…..
Your a “Dog Faced Pony Soldier” … Joe Biden Quote. He avoided the question.
….
Take a GOOD LOOK @ this 11 second clip please. https://youtu.be/N3G52Bjirho
He ain’t right in the head. Puppet Biden on full display.
……
After 47 years of bilking YOU, the TAXPAYER, he can not get this very basic concept of The Declaration of INDEPENDENCE!!!!?????? GMAFB. The guy is a has been. He is not playing with a full deck. Something is wrong. His wires are crossed.
Why did iNot get the opportunity to fly Air Force 2 & land lucrative deals with China & Moscow? Because, iAm NOT A BIDEN!
DEN OF THIEVES! All @ the EXPENSE of YOU … The Taxpayer. THEY LIE! Obama KNEW EVERYTHING!
If you vote for this Swamp Thing (Creature), consider yourself a member of the ‘Galaktias Ignoramus Party of Fools”
Have A Grateful Day 😉 AAPL LONG since 1991 picking up AAPL all along the way 😉 Think Different. More importantly… THINK FOR YOURSELF! Good Grief! Get a SPINE SNOWFLAKES! Rant complete.
Foolish
foolish[ foo-lish ]
SHOW IPA
SEE SYNONYMS FOR foolish ON THESAURUS.COM
adjective
resulting from or showing a lack of sense; ill-considered; unwise:
a foolish action, a foolish speech.
lacking forethought or caution.
trifling, insignificant, or paltry.
And that post was supposed to convince us that Trump supporters are more highly educated than Biden supporters?
Yes. Not only are we educated, we have COMMON SENSE! We know better than to vote for a Puppet Biden and a Radioactive Radical Harris who has backed the Bernie Manifesto.
https://nypost.com/2020/07/19/beware-of-biden-sanders-radical-lefty-manifesto-devine/
Have you read the Manifesto?
Wow.. and you proclaim to be “Educated” Tx… Again, NOTHING comes for free. How old are you?
Old enough to have three earned degrees from highly rated institutions. How many do you have?
Your a lawyer. That fact, is all iNeed to know. Clogging the system with BS claims. iDon’t give a rats ass as to how many degrees you “may” have stuck to your wall. Tx, you lack basic common sense.
Hillary Clinton is a lawyer. She NEEDS to go to JAIL. She was the one who spearheaded the inciedious false narrative of The Russia HOAX! And you call yourself a lawyer. Just wait until Brennan’s HAND WRITTEN NOTES become available to the general public with NO REDACTIONS. HMMMMMMM. The HILLDABEAST IS GUILTY!
You are as BLIND and complicate as to her malfeasance against the AMERICAN TAXPAYER.
The Clintons & Obamas are the ones who need to be questioned under oath.
Blind Ignorance. Have A Grateful Day .!.. 😉
I hope you never need a prosecutor because you have been victimized by a crime, or a defense lawyer because you have been unjustly accused, or a plaintiff’s lawyer because you seek reimbursement for a broken contract or civil wrong, or a civil lawyer because you have been sued.
Maybe if one of those things happens you can call on some nonjudicial method to resolve the conflict, like a lynch mob.
“Modern university is a wheel chair (metaphor) for the mind where (YOU) the weak get pushed around”
Ah TX, if I sent you to a school that focused on practical to advanced anti-semitism and championing racism and eugenics, and you got all A grades, you’d.be highly educated. Would you be smarter than the average conservative? No, you’d be a highly educated fool.
All will be revealed when Obama-Clinton-Biden troops are in jail…clean house within the halls of Congress!
Trump is the one going to jail, the corrupt, racist orange fat oaf.
OBAMAGATE..
noun Law.
the performance by a public official of an act that is legally unjustified, harmful, or contrary to law; wrongdoing (used especially of an act in violation of a public trust).Compare misfeasance (def. 2), nonfeasance.
They all need to go to jail. They cost the taxpayer nearly $40 MILLION.
Worse… they (The OBAMA ADMINISTRATION) did everything in their COLLECTIVE (COLLUSION) CORRUPTION to stop President Trumps AMERICA FIRST policies THAT ACTUALLY WORKED to RAISE ALL BOATS. Ugh.
What a SkullFck!
Some PEOPLE ‘You Just Can’t Reach!” What we’ve got here is Failure to communicate. “Some PEOPLE you just can’t reach. Like Tx here on MDN.
Another racist Trumptard supporter who knows NOTHING. Obama was the best president you ever had and I’m not American.
Obama was a horrible President. Not the worst, just horrible.
So, what about Sony & Microsoft in the video game business? Are they considered monopolies?
Great debate everyone !!! MDN reader feedback community is strong !!!
“its the mark of an educated mind to be able to consider a thought without accepting it”
Aristotle
Why is Congress smearing Apple with F., G., M., O., et ali?
Apple is Supporting Biden, Which might be a huge Disastrous decision. Many voters don’t relaize it’s not Just Biden and his administration but Whatever Witchcraft Harris is dealing plus the Horrendous Deals with the Devil the Democrats are conjuring. True Trump is a Dip$hit but his administration is actually doing some good, Especially What Pompeo is doing and other things.
95% sounds like bullied contributions, similar to United Way tactics.