Apple helped Putin steal an election for $155 million

Part of the Silicon Valley playbook is helping autocrats crush democracy. They do it for the money.

A small number of tech companies within a walkable radius in Silicon Valley have historically unprecedented power, reach and wealth. Apple and Google, for example, dominate the smartphone industry worldwide, yet their headquarters are separated by less than 10 miles.

They’re enormous because they’re global. Apple is a $2.4 trillion company only because it sells its products and services worldwide. Being global is the only way for the Silicon Valley giant companies to grow the way they have.

But what does it mean to be global?

To be a global company is really to be a local company in 200+ nations. To operate a business in a nation is to obey the laws, edicts and rules of that nation, even if your company is headquartered elsewhere.

That’s great in stable democracies with the rule of law like Denmark and Costa Rica, but not so great in single-party authoritarian regimes like Vietnam and Eritrea. When governments that suppress democracy and human rights insist that foreign companies help them in that project, then the company finds itself facing criticism back home.

Apple is in the crosshairs this week because of some dark collusion with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

How to steal an an election

Putin’s United Russia party cheated and stole the election in numerous ways.

The cheating started when Putin allegedly tried to murder Navalny with poison. When that failed, Navalny was imprisoned and banned from participating in the election, part of a wide scale effort to suppress opposition parties in the run up to the election.

Candidates opposing United Russia were far ahead in the vote count. But when the electronic votes came in there was a mysterious shift in the result. It’s widely believed that fake votes were added to the electronic tally to assure a United Russia win.

Germany said the vote was marred by “massive irregularities.”

Leaked audio reveals one election leader instructing election workers how to falsify votes in favor of United Russia.

Leaked videos show widespread ballot stuffing.

Even with all that cheating, United Russia barely won 50% of the vote.

Why Apple helped Putin cheat in the election

Apple helped Putin suppress democracy in two ways:

1. Apple deleted a get-out-the-vote app from the App Store in Russia. The app was created to help jailed Putin critic and opposition figure Alexei Navalny organize against Putin’s United Russia party (Google did the same to the Android version in the Google Play Store.)

2. Apple turned off the company’s new Private Relay feature in Russia. The feature offers encrypted web browsing in iOS 15 for privacy. The

The ugly reality is that Apple colluded with United Russia to help Putin’s party cheat in the election.

They didn’t want to do it. But the ruling party in Russia threatened not only Apple’s business in Russia, but also to prosecute Apple employees in Russia.

In short, helping Putin cheat in elections and suppress Democracy is part of the cost of doing business in Russia.

It’s part of the global tech giant business plan for many companies doing business in Russia, China and scores of other autocratic regimes.

Most pundits give Apple a pass. They say: Apple has to obey the laws of the countries where it does business.

But who says Apple has to do business in Russia?

Apple’s profit in the nation of Russia in 2020 was roughly $155 million.

So the transaction was: Putin allows Apple to make $155 million and in exchange Apple helps Putin suppress democracy and cheat in the election.

Is it worth the money?

It’s ignorant or dishonest to say that Apple is just obeying the law in Russia.

There’s a line that Apple wouldn’t cross as a condition for making money in Russia. For example, in an extreme case, I imagine that if Putin required Tim Cook to personally execute pro-democracy advocates in public in a Moscow stadium, Apple would refuse and exit the country.

There’s a line somewhere. The question is: Where?

Personally, I believe that the demand to help subvert democracy and cheat in an election is over the line.

I wonder what Putin will demand next? For Apple to provide a back door to encrypted communication (rather than simply eliminating an encryption option as they have already done)? Real-time geolocation on dissidents so they can be executed? Now that Putin has learned that Apple will go this far, next time he’ll push for them to go farther.

It’s a slippery slope and Apple is sliding fast.

Apple believes that helping an autocrat subvert the will of the Russian people is worth the $155 million they made last year.

I disagree.

What do you think?