The fact is that Google left China 12 years ago and never returned. They gave up on the search ad revenue in the world's second largest economy. They gave up on the app store revenue in the world's largest smartphone market. That's a hell of a thing for a big company to do as a matter of principle. Some exec tried to run a project to re-enter China with search, and the project was axed the moment it became widely known in the company.
All through that time Tim Cook hasn't just been betting on China for manufacturing, but are addicted to the Chinese revenue. Apple is being held over the barrel by the CCP, both sides know it, and Apple are not doing anything to wean themselves off. As a result, Apple gives user data to Chinese authorities on requests thousands of times per year, and accept the vast majority of data requests [0]. In comparison, Google has given data on 2 accounts in the last decade. [1]
Isn't it pretty obvious that we'd like more companies to behave like Google in this situation, and no companies to act like Apple? Why are you trying to tear down the company that's done the right thing in this situation?
> Why are you trying to tear down the company that's done the right thing in this situation?
Yes, Google got out (arguably, they got kicked out) of China. But their stealth attempts to get back into that market matter just as much. Because they display the current direction Google's leadership wants to take the company.
They want to take it back to China. And that matters.
Opinion time:
Wanting to get back into China is worse than having an existing relationship. Because they know the shit it will cause, the censorship they will have to implement, the human rights they'll have impinge upon, and they're ready to dive right fucking into that with their eyes wide open - ready to accept it all as the cost of tapping China's phat assets.
They can't even use the (weak assed) "we're a frog that's been slowly boiled" or the "what's capitulation to one more command" arguments.
Yeah the company that has been out of China for over a decade (someone tried to renter years ago but idea was killed by higherups) is worse than the company that paid the Chinese government $300B to build out their manufacturing for the pleasure of selling phones there.
All through that time Tim Cook hasn't just been betting on China for manufacturing, but are addicted to the Chinese revenue. Apple is being held over the barrel by the CCP, both sides know it, and Apple are not doing anything to wean themselves off. As a result, Apple gives user data to Chinese authorities on requests thousands of times per year, and accept the vast majority of data requests [0]. In comparison, Google has given data on 2 accounts in the last decade. [1]
Isn't it pretty obvious that we'd like more companies to behave like Google in this situation, and no companies to act like Apple? Why are you trying to tear down the company that's done the right thing in this situation?
[0] https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/cn.html
[1] https://transparencyreport.google.com/user-data/overview?hl=...