Apple CEO Tim Cook dropped a stunning claim on Congress this week: that his company treats the developers of all apps the same.
His claim came under questioning from Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., during a hearing Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee.
Cook, testifying with the CEOs of Google, Amazon and Facebook, said his company "treats every developer the same" and that "the rules apply to everyone."
But Breitbart News pointed out Apple has banned apps from conservative-leaning developers such as Gab.
Johnson asked: "Mr. Cook, with over 100 million iPhone users in the United States alone and with Apple’s ownership of the app store giving Apple the ability to control which apps are allowed to be marketed to Apple users, you wield immense power over small businesses to grow and prosper. Apple is the sole decision-maker as to whether an app is made available to app users through Apple’s app store isn't that correct?"
Cook said yes, if "it's a native app."
So Johnson explained: "Throughout our investigation, we’ve heard concerns that rules governing the app store review process are not available to app developers. The rules are made up as you go, they are arbitrarily interpreted and enforced and are subject to change whenever Apple sees fit to change. And developers have no choice but to go along with the changes or they must leave the app store. That’s an enormous amount of power, also the rules get changed to benefit Apple at the expense of app developers and the app store is said to also discriminate between app developers with similar apps on the Apple app platform, and also as to smaller app developers versus large app developers. So, Mr. Cook, does Apple not treat all app developers equally?"
Cook replied: "Sir, we treat every developer the same, we have open and transparent rules, it's a rigorous process. Because we care so deeply about privacy and security and quality, we do look at every app before it goes on, but those rules apply evenly to everyone…"
He denied some developers are favored over others.
But Breitbart noted Apple "has a long history of removing apps from its store for a number of reasons and often with little reason."
Breitbart News reported in 2016 that Apple removed the app of the popular social media network Gab over content posted by users on the platform, not content generated by the app itself.
At the time, Gab CEO Andrew Torba said: "The double standards of Silicon Valley are on full display with this app store rejection from Apple. Apps like Tumblr, Reddit, and Twitter are flooded with pornographic content and allowed to remain on the App store.
"Gab empowers users to filter out this type of content, mute users who share it, and also features a reporting system to flag illegal content," he continued. "Apple went out of their way to seek out this content and find any reason to reject our app."
Where bias is obvious on other platforms – just try posting a video advocating counseling for people who want to rid themselves of unwanted same-sex attractions – it wasn't so blatant at Apple for a long time.
First Amendment News reported that the bias became clear last year when Apple removed the social media company "Parler" from its app store. John Matze, the founder of Parler, an alternative to Twitter, revealed that Apple officials contacted him by phone to inform him that he had to ban "offensive" content or his platform would be removed.
"Obviously by offensive they mean conservative content," Matze wrote at the time.
Other authors targeted by Apple have included Natural News, for which Apple simply banned updates, "rendering it essentially moot," and a Christian app because its biblical teachings on homosexuality were called "dangerous."
The report said the app "was removed after Left-wing anti-Christian groups convinced (which didn’t take long) Apple officials that the teaching of traditional family groups, traditional marriage, and traditional relationships just couldn’t be tolerated."
But the report described the affected group, Living Hope Ministries, as "anything but the 'hate group' it was portrayed to be."
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