Apple hearts China

Apple Inc. received a fairly high level of support from its shareholders over the matter of free speech in China as the company met for its annual meeting today.

The issue at hand was the fact that in 2017 Apple removed 634 virtual private networks from its Apple Store at the behest of the Chinese government. At the time, Apple was blasted by free speech advocates, seeing as activists in China had used those VPNs to get around China’s Great Firewall. In 2018, also at the request of the Chinese government, Apple delisted the New York Times app.

Nearly 41% of shareholders supported a proposal for Apple to be “publicly committed to respect freedom of expression as a human right,” a significant number. But it was still defeated.

Chief Executive Tom Cook (pictured) didn’t mention the obvious reason for Apple’s moves — the bottom line — and instead said it was in everyone’s interest to adhere to the laws and regulations where the company operates. Cook added, in a common refrain for U.S. companies defending their cooperation with dubious regimes, that it wasn’t “in the best interest of our users to simply abandon markets, which would leave consumers with fewer choices and fewer privacy protections.”

SOURCE