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The Techlash Is Coming for Apple
After watching Amazon, Facebook, and Google get hammered by critics — and encouraging it when convenient — Apple gets its turn under the bright lights
Apple’s life is getting complicated in a hurry. With a combination of masterful marketing and luck, the $2.22 trillion company managed to avoid the backlash that has targeted Amazon, Facebook, and Google in recent years. But its good fortune and public relations magic appear to be running out, and a reckoning seems imminent.
Apple’s problems were on full display Wednesday, as representatives from Spotify, Tile, and Match Group — all of whom rely on Apple to reach customers — castigated it before the Senate. Apple, they said, is abusing its market power, harming their products, and, most importantly, hurting their customers. They attacked Apple with a fury the company hadn’t seen in recent memory, at least in public.
“Apple’s idea of competing is patently unfair,” Tile general counsel Kirsten Daru told the Senate, delivering her remarks just one day after Apple introduced AirTag, a Tile copycat. Apple, she said, prevented Tile from using a technology called ultra-wideband that would help its users find their lost items. Then, Apple used that same technology for its Tile competitor. The…
