"Asking politely" is a euphemism. The company has a desire to receive government contracts, or to not be subject to adverse regulations, and is thereby given the choice to submit or be the subject of retaliation.

In reality it's an end-run around the court system. If the government officially penalized them for not complying, various parties would have standing to assert their rights. So the punishment isn't officially tied to the failure to submit, but the threat is still there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwest#Refusal_of_NSA_surveilla...