Apple tells Telegram to take down protestor channels in Belarus

Re:Apple tells Telegram to take down protestor channels in B... by esperent on Saturday October 10, 2020 @11:33AM (#24739625)

When one side is an illegitimate government who stole an election, and the other side is millions of people fighting for democracy and freedom, possibly, just possibly, it's time to pick a side. Even if you're a huge amoral profit driven company who's fear of losing 0.1% of your profit precludes you from taking sides... Well, maybe just sit this one out?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Apple tells Telegram to take down protestor channels in B... by csallen on Saturday October 10, 2020 @12:08PM (#24739873)

It seems very easy from the outside looking in to conclude that an organization should play judge and jury for external conflicts. But having run a small internet forum and occasionally being asked to resolve disputes, even trivial he-said she-said spats can be incredibly difficult to investigate and untangle.

I won't pretend I know what Apple should do here. But I certainly don't agree with the cavalier assertion that unrelated organizations need to confidently pick sides in moral and political battles. Just because you're so certain what the answer should be doesn't mean that you're right. And your lack of visibility and accountability means you risk much less when you quickly come to strong moral conclusions than do large organizations.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Apple tells Telegram to take down protestor channels in B... by qPM9l3XJrF on Saturday October 10, 2020 @11:45AM (#24739702)

So Apple is now in charge of deciding whether elections are legitimate?

It's weird how people in this thread are zigzagging between saying Apple has too much corporate power and Apple needs much more.

Does every country in the world really have to be a democracy? Remember how the Arab Spring turned out?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Apple tells Telegram to take down protestor channels in B... by mswtk on Saturday October 10, 2020 @03:34PM (#24741279)

> Does every country in the world really have to be a democracy?

They don't.

Does every country in the world really need to have racial equality and an even-handed police force? They don't either.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Apple tells Telegram to take down protestor channels in B... by foepys on Saturday October 10, 2020 @12:02PM (#24739823)

> So Apple is now in charge of deciding whether elections are legitimate?

Don't worry, Apple doesn't have to decide anything here. The US government already did.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Apple tells Telegram to take down protestor channels in B... by dane-pgp on Saturday October 10, 2020 @06:44PM (#24742437)

I'm not sure why this is being downvoted, but perhaps people don't believe the claim that the US government has formally taken a side on the legitimacy of the elections:

https://www.axios.com/us-lukashenko-president-belarus-353ed2...

It seems to me that this offers a clever way out for Apple: If Lukashenko isn't the legitimate president of Belarus, then the "police" following his orders to attack protesters are not police at all, but terrorists; and Telegram is helping to bring them to the attention of the legitimate authorities of the president in exile.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Apple tells Telegram to take down protestor channels in B... by dnh44 on Saturday October 10, 2020 @12:05PM (#24739843)

How do you know the opposition would have won the election if not for the alleged cheating?

[ Parent | on HN ]