There is a reason why Apple is less exposed to such regulation now: they decided, a while back, not to make targeted ads and private data a core component of th

There is a reason why Apple is less exposed to such regulation now: they decided, a while back, not to make targeted ads and private data a core component of their business. Part of what them allowed to make that call was obviously their strength in hardware. But I think there are some actions by Apple that go beyond the level required for a superficial PR campaign. They popularized[0] differential privacy, allowing machine learning to learn from properly anonymised data. The concept is pretty complicated, making me doubt that a PR agency would consider it a good vehicle for improving the brand's image. Their refusal to budge to the FBI and about half of the political establishment in the case of the San Bernadino shooter's iPhone was also rather gutsy: opposing law enforcement in their investigation of an actual islamic terrorist is at least a high-stakes gamble, if not outright stupid for marketing purposes. Even if you think the left will glorify you, you really really don't want to wade into culture wars territory and risk losing half your potential customers, at least not at Apple's scale. There are quite a few other areas where Apple has been rather proactive in doing the right thing. They have always supported LGBTQ rights, possibly starting from their original rainbow coloured bitten apple being a reference to the injustice committed against Alan Turing[0]. They have invested in areas such as labor conditions, diversity, and environmental protection, often before the specific issues came under scrutiny from outside groups. Their recently announced initiative for fairly sourced coltan, for example, was the first I had ever heard of the element. [0]: Edit: changed from "invented" to "popularised". Thx to grzm for correcting me below (he's right, I was wrong, and I have no idea why they are being downvoted) [1]: Not 100% sure if truth of myth. Correct me if I'm wrong.