Many of the important stories that have come out over the past year, including testimony to congress by the former CDC that COVID came from a lab in Wuhan China, were a shock to many people. When members of the media and researchers were reporting unusual issues like Harvard scientists taking massive amounts of money from China, independent journalists were stymied in no small part to companies like Apple.
In an exchange with Elon Musk on Twitter back in November, video sharing website LBRY shared a shocking statement that goes against what most of us believe about Apple and Tim Cook. According to LBRY:
During Covid, Apple demanded our apps filter some search terms from being returned. If we did not filter the terms, our apps would not be allowed in the store. Apple may make good products, but they have been opposed to free speech for some time.
It turns out that Apple demanded LBRY block video searches for anything related to Covid, especially anything regarding vaccines or the human (think lab leak) origins of the virus which at the time would have put focus directly on China.
Addicted to China
Apple was also facing a backlash over the past few years of Covid because of lock-ins where factory workers were prevented from leaving iPhone and Apple computer factories. The company is severely leveraged in Chinese factories thanks to CEO and Engineer Tim Cook’s reliance on companies like Foxconn to produce its highly popular phones, devices and computers. A war with China would have devastating consequences on Apple, one of the largest corporations in the worse. That reliance appears to be shifting slightly. According to a 2022 article by Reuters:
A Reuters analysis of Apple’s supply chain data shows China’s prominence in the company’s global manufacturing is declining: In the five years to 2019, China was the primary location of 44% to 47% of its suppliers’ production sites, but that fell to 41% in 2020, and 36% in 2021.
LBRY.tv (known as Odysee now) was one of the few seemingly safe havens for independent video producers to post and share content. It was also the platform chosen by Broken Truth early into our advocacy when YouTube, Google, Facebook and Twitter began a scorched Earth campaign of censorship and suppression which many consider to be an act of treason against the people of the United States.
Another Hidden Travesty
The news of Apple’s censorship has gone largely unreported outside of twitter. Apple has a history of some censorship on the grounds of obscenity or extremism, however this was the first we had heard of suppression of information that might have been in support of a country linked to a biological, psychological and lawfare attack on the United States.
Perhaps Apple’s efforts were to prevent a war between the western nations most affected by Covid and the Communist Party of China. The secretive company is notorious for refusing to comment on scandals.
Apple was also slammed for disabling airdrop functions in an update in 2022, a move that directly inhibited protestors in China from collaborating. In December 2022, Cook ignored questions about the move.
A Free Speech Platform at Risk
LBRY had recently lost a case against the SEC in a devestating case that threatened to destroy the fledgling blockchain based video service. Last month, the SEC reduced it’s penalty from $22,000,000 to $111,000 in an acknowledgement that the company was incapable of paying such a massive fine.
In March Time Cook spoke during his first trip to China since the pandemic began. “Innovation is developing rapidly in China and I believe it will further accelerate,” Cook allegedly stated.
We only know of Apple’s efforts to censor information because LBRY spoke out. Where else did Apple employ this censorship? Will anyone else comeforward?
Lbry was unavailable for comment.
