Buzz
Chances are you’re already familiar with Apple, and you’re probably reading this on one of their devices. The fact is, they’re one of the most well-known brands worldwide—renowned for their sleek designs, youthful appeal, and iconic black turtlenecks. And let’s not forget the darker side, which may be more sinister than a sack full of Rasputins. Yes, 'evil'—and there’s a reason the villain in Bond’s worst film resembled Steve Jobs: Apple is, without a doubt, likely being run by supervillains. It’s the only way to explain…
9. Massive Tax Evasion Schemes
From a legal perspective, tax avoidance is perfectly acceptable. Unfortunately, that’s the case with Apple, who are currently hoarding enough funds offshore to eradicate world poverty. No joke: as reported by the Guardian, Apple is sheltering around $100 billion—while Oxfam states that ending global poverty could be accomplished with just 60% of that. Even with the current corporate tax rate of 35%, making Apple pay their fair share would raise enough money to eliminate poverty in South America.
But hey, it’s their wealth, right? If we applied the 'give to the poor' argument, every business on Earth would be broke—which might actually happen if Apple continues its aggressive tax avoidance tactics. See, not many companies have the clout to dodge taxes and then pull a John Galt move before congress. By exploiting loopholes, Apple secures an enormous, unfair advantage over its competitors—like an Olympic sprinter showing up to the race in a Ferrari. This leaves smaller companies (which is most of them) in the dust, while laying the groundwork for a monopoly. But even worse than monopolizing is their current tactic of…
8. Blackmailing Congress
Picture this: the IRS knocks on your door, and you try to strike a deal where you’ll pay taxes—only if you get to set the rate. What do you think would happen? At best, everyone would laugh in your face; at worst, you’d probably end up behind bars with your assets confiscated. But that’s not the case for Apple CEO Tim Cook: recently, Cook essentially told congress they could tax his company, but only if they adjusted the rate to match his desires. And considering his proposed rate is a mere nine percent, congress should’ve laughed and shaken him until $35bn fell out of his pockets. Instead, they spent hours praising how fantastic Apple products are, much like those delusional Chris Brown fans who still defend his awful behavior. In short, Cook flat-out blackmailed congress, and they responded by showering him with praise.
7. Aggressive Litigation
‘Aggressive litigation’ refers to when a wealthy company uses lawsuits as a tactic to suppress or damage a competitor. And Apple is a master of this strategy, often resembling a professional road accident victim in its legal battles. Take their long-running global feud with Samsung: both companies appear as ruthless, faceless corporations, but only Apple is accused of using lawsuits as a way to monopolize the market. If you're not up-to-date on the cases, they essentially revolve around Apple trying to make Samsung’s phones illegal by claiming to own the concept of 'smartphones.' For example, they attempted to patent the act of unlocking a phone by swiping, the use of square icons for apps, pinch-to-zoom, and even the very rectangular shape of the phones. If you've ever seen a smartphone, you’d realize that’s basically describing them all—and Apple is attempting to patent these ideas faster than you can say ‘anti-competitive.’
6. Ignoring Court Orders
Speaking of the Apple v Samsung case, did you know that Apple lost their tablet patent lawsuit in the UK? Samsung has faced losses too in other areas, and as I’ve mentioned before, both companies have done their share of shady tactics, but what makes this significant is how Apple blatantly ignored a UK court’s ruling to publicly apologize to their competitor. And when I say 'ignored,' I mean they did it with total disregard—forced by a judge to post an apology on their UK homepage, Apple first published a notice that was so far from apologetic, they were ordered to write another, which they then buried so nobody could actually see it.
Just take a moment to think about this: if you blatantly ignored a court order—twice—you’d likely find yourself facing contempt charges and possibly thrown into prison. While Apple’s actions here are mostly harmless (and somewhat amusing—the apology is buried in a page element called 'sosumi'), it clearly demonstrates the lack of respect they have for the laws that you and I are bound to: absolutely none.
5. Ruining the Environment
When you condense it down to just three simple words, Apple’s practice of letting its suppliers dump toxic sludge into rivers might not seem too bad—especially if you think of 'environmentalism' as just ‘liberal nonsense.’ But let’s break it down into something everyone can grasp: by exploiting environmental loopholes in China, Apple allowed its suppliers to unleash massive clouds of toxic gas over nearby villages. In these villages, people are now dying at an alarming rate from cancer. Essentially, entire families are being wiped out so that Apple can save a few dollars. To make matters worse, in 2011, one of the factories producing Apple products poisoned 137 of its workers when a cheap chemical used in making iPads released a cloud of nerve gas. And Apple’s response? The corporate equivalent of 'meh.'
4. Exploiting Sweatshop Labor
In 2006, it was revealed that Apple’s factories in China were employing sweatshop labor—a practice so profoundly immoral it ranks right up there with stealing Christmas. Workers at the Longhua plant near Hong Kong were made to endure 15-hour workdays with no breaks, earning as little as $40 a month, a wage that would have been considered low even in the slums of Victorian Britain. And guess what? The conditions were equally harsh: employees were found sleeping in overcrowded dorms, prohibited from contacting the outside world, and forced into military-style drills every morning. In other words, the place was more like a prison camp than a factory—and it wasn’t a one-time issue. Five years later, another Apple supplier was caught forcing students to work on assembly lines in exchange for nothing but a chance to graduate. For the record, that’s just as unethical in China as it is anywhere else. And that’s before we even touch on Apple’s use of…
3. They Don’t Care About Their Customers
Anyone with even the slightest technical knowledge can’t resist the temptation to ‘jailbreak’ their Apple product. While it may sound a bit illegal, it’s not: jailbreaking simply allows you to bypass Apple’s restrictive app store and run third-party programs or switch to a different carrier. It seems harmless enough—unless, of course, you work for Apple. Time and again, Apple has rolled out ‘updates’ specifically designed to disable modified devices. In other words, Apple is more than happy to take your money—thus completing the consumer transaction—and then deliberately render your new toy useless for no apparent reason. Can you imagine if masked Swedish mechanics showed up every time you made modifications to your Volvo and yanked the engine out? They’d be out of business in a day. Yet, we continue to buy Apple products, because—in the end—what’s something like 'ethics' or 'self-respect' when compared to owning a shiny new phone?
2. Worker Exploitation
Quick, who’s heard of bonded labor? It’s a practice commonly associated with human trafficking, where workers are made to pay exorbitant fees for agency services and transportation, leaving them so deeply in debt that they are forced to work for free until their debt is cleared. And since this article is about Apple, you can probably guess which Chinese suppliers engage in bonded labor (hint: it’s Apple). So what happens to these modern-day slaves while working for nothing? You guessed it: they’re beaten and forced to live in cockroach-infested warehouses straight out of an Orwellian nightmare.
How Orwellian, you ask? Well, this report uncovered a factory where employees must stand during the company’s theme song, propaganda is blasted through speakers non-stop, 34-hour shifts are mandatory, and any sign of tiredness (like yawning) results in wage deductions. In short, it's the kind of place Kim Jong-Un would call 'unnecessarily cruel'—and that’s before we get to the workers who’ve perished from exhaustion or been coerced into signing contracts that eliminate anything beyond minimum compensation for their families if they commit suicide. Want to know Steve Jobs’ thoughts on this totalitarian nightmare? “It’s a nice place.”
1. Exploiting Children for Labor
Child labor is one of the few universally condemned injustices in the world. So, it probably shouldn’t shock anyone that Apple’s suppliers in China are among those practicing it.
In 2010, Apple’s internal investigation revealed that 91 children were working in their factories, a sharp rise from just eleven the previous year. Due to the heartless nature of these suppliers, many of these young workers were tasked with lifting heavy loads without any training—predictably, this didn’t end well. As if that weren’t disturbing enough, the report also revealed that mandatory pregnancy tests were being performed, a practice so regressive it practically erases any progress made for women’s rights. But surely, after two years, things must have improved, right? Wrong. The latest audit found that the number of child laborers had climbed to 106, indicating either gross incompetence or a lack of concern altogether.
