Tim Cook—Apple lobbied to weaken Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act while Cook publicly condemned forced labor
In November 2020, it was revealed that Apple lobbyists worked to weaken the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, proposing to extend compliance deadlines and limit public disclosure requirements. Apple spent $90,000 on lobbying related to the bill. This contradicted Cook's July 2020 congressional testimony where he called forced labor 'abhorrent' and pledged zero tolerance for supply chain abuses.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deceptive Lobbying | +toward | secondary | -0.50 |
| Supply Chain Ethics | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.643 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Apple lobbyists sought to weaken Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act with $90K lobbying spend
In November 2020, reports revealed that Apple's lobbyists were quietly working to weaken the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Apple's proposed changes included extending compliance deadlines, releasing supply chain information only to Congress rather than publicly, and requiring government designation of Chinese entities involved. Apple spent $90,000 on lobbying related to the bill.