Apple hasn’t long made it a habit of supporting either major party in the past, but Politico reports that it did back both party conventions during the 2008 election, providing $140,000 worth of MacBooks and other hardware for the events. The company didn’t provide support in 2012 after Democrats rejected corporate contributions. However, that the iPhone maker would take a political stance against the presumptive Republican nominee represents a shift in Apple’s playbook, and potentially shows how seriously the company takes Trump’s statements. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment.
If confirmed, the decision to not support the GOP convention puts Apple in lockstep with other tech companies taking principled stands. HP, which helped fund the RNC in 2012, announced in May that it would not donate to the convention. BuzzFeed recently pulled out of a lucrative ad deal it inked with the RNC specifically because of Trump. “We don’t run cigarette ads because they are hazardous to our health,” wrote BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti at the time, “and we won’t accept Trump ads for the exact same reason.”
It remains to be seen whether or not Trump will respond. However, he already decried Apple’s privacy decisions, calling for a boycott of Apple products after the company refused the FBI’s request to build a backdoor into the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone. Maybe he’ll stop using his iPhone again.
Source: The Verge