1:04 pm PST 1/17/2021
in
Lexy Perez
Speaking to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, Cook said that Parler could return “if they can moderate together.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook is speaking out against the riot at the United States Capitol and defending the decision to remove Parler from Apple’s App Store.
When talking to Chris Wallace about Fox News SundayCook said it was “one of the saddest moments of my life to see an attack on our Capitol, an attack on our democracy”.
“To be honest, I felt that I was in some kind of alternative reality. This could not be happening,” he added.
After the riot, Apple suspended the conservative social media platform Parler from its App Store, noting in a statement: “We always support a variety of views being represented on the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and activity illegal. Parler has not taken adequate measures to deal with the proliferation of these threats to people’s safety. We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these problems. “
“We are always trying to do the right thing,” said Cook, arguing against President Donald Trump’s criticism of “Big Tech” that impedes free speech.
“Obviously we do not control what is on the internet, but we have never seen that our platform should be a simple replication of the internet. We have rules and regulations and we just ask people to follow them, ”he explained, adding that they pulled the plug after seeing an apparent” incitement to violence “.
“We do not believe that freedom of expression and incitement to violence have an intersection.”
Cook also emphasized that Apple hosts more than two million applications, but all of them must comply with the terms of service.
When Wallace questioned whether the ban would simply drive users of the app into hiding, Cook reiterated, “We just suspended them, Chris. If they can moderate it, they’ll be back there.”
Requests for Parler to be banned from Apple and Google’s app stores increased after reports showed that app users were encouraging violence in their exchanges before the Capitol riot.
In the aftermath of the violence, Twitter permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account under the “risk of further incitement to violence” and deleted additional tweets that the president tried to post after the ban. Facebook also blocked Trump’s account.
Apple CEO @Tim cook joined #FoxNewsSunday to discuss the company’s new running initiative. In addition, we had his reaction to the deadly attack on the United States Capitol and to his company’s standoff with the conservative-trend Parler app. pic.twitter.com/krbsb9aut5
– FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) January 17, 2021