Tim Cook Defends Apple's Decision To Remove Parler From The App Store

[Amber]

Apple CEO Tim Cook defended the company's controversial decision to remove the social media platform Parler from the App Store in the aftermath of the riot at the U.S. Capitol Building earlier this month.

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"We obviously don't control what's on the internet but we've never viewed that our platform should be a simple replication of the internet. We have rules and regulations and we just ask that people abide by those," he explained. "We don’t consider that free speech and incitement to violence has an intersection."

Parler marketed itself as a platform without restriction on free speech and in turn, attracted a large community of users who were banned from or otherwise disillusioned with more mainstream platforms. Twitter in particular has banned a number of accounts after the riot in an effort to reduce "risk of further incitement of violence."  These bans included President Donald Trump.

Apple will reinstate Parler to the App Store under one condition: "If they get their moderation together they would be back on there," Cook added.

Cook also commented on the riot at the Capitol Building specifically, calling it "one of the saddest moments of my life seeing an attack on our Capitol, an attack on our democracy."

[Via]

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