Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Hate Speech: 'You Have No Place on Our Platform'

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
66,067
34,920



Apple CEO Tim Cook this afternoon accepted the Anti-Defamation League's inaugural Courage Against Hate Award at the Never is Now Summit on Anti-Semitism and Hate, where he gave a keynote speech that had a strong message for those seeking to spread hate on Apple's platform.

"We only have one message for those who seek to push hate, division, and violence, Cook said. "You have no place on our platform. You have no home here."

timcookadl.jpg

Cook went on to say that this is a longtime view of Apple's, and he pointed out the company's removal of Infowars content earlier this year. Apple, he said, is not afraid to say that its values drive its curation decisions.
From the earliest days of iTunes to Apple Music today, we have always prohibited music with a message of white supremacy. Why? Because it's the right thing to do.

And as we showed this year, we won't give a platform to violent conspiracy theorists on the App Store. Why? Because it's the right thing to do.

My friends, if we can't be clear on moral questions like these, then we've got big problems. At Apple, we are not afraid to say that our values drive our curation decisions. And why should we be? Doing what's right, creating experiences free from violence and hate, experiences that empower creativity and new ideas is what our customers want us to do.

Technology should be about human attention. It should be about optimism. And we believe the future should belong to those who use technology to build a better, more inclusive, and more hopeful world.

After all, history is full of examples of what can happen when those with power, and those who ought to have good judgement, instead look the other way. I believe the most sacred thing that each of us is given is our judgement. Our morality. Our own innate desire to separate right from wrong. Choosing to set that responsibility aside at a moment of trial is a sin. We as individuals have the power to know and feel and act and we ought to use it.
Click to expand...
According to Cook, while Apple is a technology company, its employees "never forget" that the devices they design are imagined by human minds, built by human hands, and are meant to improve human lives.
I sometimes say that I worry less about computers that think like people and more about people that think like computers. Without values or compassion, without concern for consequences. And so we try to stay rooted and to keep our devices connected to the humanity that makes us us.
Click to expand...
Cook's full speech at the Never is Now Summit was made available via the ADL's livestream of the event. The livestream is now offline, but we'll update should the video be uploaded to the ADL's website at a later time.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple CEO Tim Cook on Hate Speech: 'You Have No Place on Our Platform'
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/12/03/tim-cook-adl-keynote-speech/
  • Like
Reactions: boswald, walex19 and jeremiah256
From the earliest days of iTunes to Apple Music today, we have always prohibited music with a message of white supremacy. Why? Because it's the right thing to do.
Click to expand...

I agree with this sentiment, but I can’t take them seriously when there is plenty of black supremacy rap music on iTunes. They preach about what is right, but they seem to have quite a bit of bias when it comes to what they think is right and wrong.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: grr74, imamacperson, tripmusic and 116 others
Yep the problem is that this sounds all nice warm and comfy, as long as you don't define who defines hate speech? The current definition is anything that is not in line with current liberal political correctness and the massive bias current liberal political correctness has against open political and policy dialog. Liberals can't win with facts so they destroy the messenger by labeling them a hater.

Of course everyone believes there is speech that should not be repeated or amplified. But the current proposal by Cook, and others, is nothing but censorship to further their political position. A position that is not supported by facts and/or at least half the US population.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zemsantos, andrewdon, Val-kyrie and 106 others
The world is only rose-colored while you're wearing the (Apple) glasses.

All information is free by nature, despite anyone's attempts to suppress it. Censorship is never the correct long-term answer to dealing with ideas someone/anyone doesn't happen to agree with. The truth will out on a long enough timeline.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tripmusic, machaven, Yugure and 25 others
No music promoting white supremacy. Lots of music celebrating sexual assault and cop killing. This is the problem with taking sides and trying to identify some evils that bother you - there will always be other evils you accept that are objectively as bad. Does Louis Farrakhan still have a voice on Apple? He still does on Twitter despite being a Jew hating lowlife. I don’t envy modern companies all this hair splitting. They cannot be a free for all because some moron starts posting porn or something else vile and so they start trying to enforce rules and it’s hard to get it correct. It’s hard for laws to sort this stuff out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tripmusic, andrewdon, Val-kyrie and 49 others
KazKam said:
The world is only rose-colored while you're wearing the (Apple) glasses.

All information is free by nature, despite anyone's attempts to suppress it. Censorship is never the correct long-term answer to dealing with ideas someone/anyone doesn't happen to agree with. The truth will out on a long enough timeline.
Click to expand...

It’s not censorship to refuse to let someone use your stage. They can still go somewhere else to speak
 
  • Like
Reactions: WinterWolf90, Stryder541, RoobyRoobyRoo and 32 others
This is why I am an Apple customer. This, and respect for privacy.

I will suffer the junk keyboards.
I will suffer the miserly cheapness with cables, ports, power bricks, memory, and storage.
I will suffer the quality issues and lagging in innovation in software and cloud solutions.
I will suffer the prices which are no longer “for the rest of us”

There are so few ethical technology companies. Zuck, Sandberg, the Google buffoons, the sociopathers....the list goes on an on. So I chose Apple.

I am proud to be a customer, flaws in the products and all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vladid, Detnator, WinterWolf90 and 32 others
TimUSCA said:
I agree with this sentiment, but I can’t take them seriously when there is plenty of black supremacy rap music on iTunes. They preach about what is right, but they seem to have quite a bit of bias when it comes to what they think is right and wrong.
Click to expand...

I don’t know that I agree that any of that music is ‘black supremacy’ but yes there is questionable music that seems to promote sexual assault, violence etc and yes it can be seen as hypocritical to allow that but then do something like remove a podcast created by someone labeled as a neo nazi
 
  • Like
Reactions: RoobyRoobyRoo, audiophilosophy, Moi Ici and 1 other person
Cook better stop his unduly external engagement.
Sponsoring (some) political parties etc. has made him one of quarreling partizans - instead of being elevated above them. That combined with (supposed or actual) censorship wil only lead to complications.

There are lots of opportunities and challenges to improve Apple tenure when it comes to innovation, quality, financial outlook, redefining its mission - which are not optimally served by diverting his attention towards external causes
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: tripmusic, Yugure, augievuk and 20 others
Oh geez, these threads are always filled with misinformed people talking about free speech and censorship.

Apple isn’t the government, they can “censor” (quotes because it isn’t real censorship) anyone they please.

The first amendment doesn’t apply here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stryder541, imageWIS, aarond12 and 36 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back