Not a stupid question at all. Assuming the story is false (which I don't assume, and actually think it's probably correct) it would likely depend on the care an

Not a stupid question at all. Assuming the story is false (which I don't assume, and actually think it's probably correct) it would likely depend on the care and process that went into the reporter. Were the editors and reporters reckless and ignore what Apple and Amazon told them? For a cover story of this magnitude, almost certainly not. But it also wouldn't be out of the question for Apple and Amazon to sue if the story was truly completely off. When I've been sued or threatened with defamation lawsuits, the first thing we go over is how we're going to show we did due diligence, how we came to the conclusions, how we reached out for comment and incorporated that comment into the process. If Apple and Amazon can figure out the sources, there's also potential for them to sue the background sources, though that's usually tough and messy (because then you have to prove they not only defamed you, but also that they were the ones who were the original source so doesn't happen much).