Trump immigration ban: “If we stand and say nothing, we become a part of it,” Apple CEO Tim Cook

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By tech2 News Staff /  09 Feb 2017 , 14:38

Speaking at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, Apple CEO Tim Cook took a clear stance against Donald Trump’s immigration ban saying, “If we stand and say nothing, we become a part of it, our company thrives on diversity.”

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If we stand and say nothing we become a part of it, our company thrives on Diversity! @tim_cook on @realDonaldTrump executive order.

8:27 PM - 8 Feb 2017 · Glasgow, Scotland

 
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Cook was at the university to receive an honorary degree.

Just a few weeks ago, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning the entry of refugees and that of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. The ban extends to US visa holders from those countries.

The order faced immediate backlash from Americans and Silicon Valley. Almost 100 tech companies, including Apple, Facebook and Google have signed an amicus curiae brief in support of a lawsuit fighting the order.

US Federal Courts have since halted the order.

Despite the statement, Cook assured everyone at the university that Apple wasn’t a “political company”, reports Cnet.

Cook adds that “I don’t believe Apple is an activist and I don’t view myself as an activist.”

Stating that Apple is not shy, he went on to state that Apple will continue to address issues that it feels very strongly about, but that these issues are based on Apple’s beliefs and nothing else.

Twitter’s Periscope adds ‘Proudly made in America by immigrants’ to app loading screen

  31 Jan 2017 , 16:13

As a mark of protest against the US President Donald Trump’s recent executive order banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations, Twitter’s live-streaming app Periscope has updated its loading screen with a small text that reads “Proudly made in America by immigrants”. In a statement, Periscope said on Tuesday that the recent executive order to halt immigration from seven countries in the Middle East and Africa forced them to consider a disturbing alternate reality in which the Periscope team is irreparably changed.

“Periscope is built, maintained, and operated by people from many faiths and countries. Without immigrants and refugees, Periscope would not exist. For this reason, we are updating the Periscope loading screen to make a simple true statement: ‘Proudly made in America by immigrants’,” the statement read. According to a report in VentureBeat, messaging giant Viber revealed it would be offering free calls from the US to the seven countries affected by the executive order.

Google has pledged $4 million to four organisations that support immigrants, while Uber will help drivers with their immigration defence by contributing a $3 million pot. Airbnb has announced free temporary housing to those affected by the order. Earlier, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in his support to the immigrants termed the executive order’s impact as upsetting.

“The Executive Order’s humanitarian and economic impact is real and upsetting. We benefit from what refugees and immigrants bring to the US,” @jack tweeted. The executive order bans immigration from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen under measures to “keep radical Islamic terrorists out”. “I am establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the US,” Trump said during the signing at the Pentagon after the swearing-in of Defence Secretary James Mattis.

IANS