Tim Cook Admits that Apple is a Publisher and Not a Platform

To a round of applause, Apple's CEO Tim Cook admits his company is being given the massive corporate welfare handout of being considered a platform despite it being openly a publisher:​

Apple CEO Tim Cook suggests it's "a sin" to not ban certain people from social media and technology platforms: "We only have one message for those who seek to push hate, division, and violence: You have no place on our platforms. You have no home here." pic.twitter.com/gO5qB6bBuO

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) December 4, 2018

It drives us not to be bystanders as hate tries to make its headquarters in the digital world. At Apple, we believe that technology needs to have a clear point of view on this challenge. That's why we only have one message for those who seek to push hate, division and violence: You have no place on our platforms.

Of course, "hate" and "divisiveness" are rather arbitrary terms. They'll lump in civic nationalists and even antiwar types with the likes of David Duke. And they'll ignore far-left "divisiveness" and "hate." You're not going to see any communists being banned (or The New York Times and their delightful new contributing editor).

But more importantly, as noted above, by taking such a one-sided stand (rightwing divisiveness is banned, leftwing divisiveness is celebrated), Tim Cook has admitted that Apple is no longer a platform, but is instead a publisher. Here's the difference from TechCrunch:

Platform models were content- and content-creator-agnostic. They were all about facilitating the production and distribution of content. They were not about the content itself. Every user had the same access and means to create and publish content, while empowering audiences to decide what content was relevant and let the masses decide what would rise to the top. This was largely done through a mix of clever algorithms and user behavior and feedback. Platforms did not pay for content creation but for technology, and they usually did not feel responsible for bad content or copyright infringements.
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In contrast, pure publisher models were the complete opposite. Access and means to create and publish content were limited to staff editors or freelancers. Audiences had very little say, while all content decisions were made by publishers: They drew a clear line between content consumers and content creators; they paid for content creation, and less for technology; and they were responsible for bad content or copyright infringements.

Publisher's can be held liable for what they publish. This includes slander, child porn, terrorism recruitment and the like. From now on, Apple (and the other tech giants as well) should all be held liable for every single thing posted and uploaded to their platforms.