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It is practically impossible to find cobalt, an essential ingredient for most consumer electronics, without it being mined by child labor and slavery. About 50
by Blikkentrekker 6y ago
It is practically impossible to find cobalt, an essential ingredient for most consumer electronics, without it being mined by child labor and slavery.
About 50% of the world's cobalt is estimated to be mined by slaves, and it is not easily possible to know which is which.
- fakedang 6y agoCobalt is a few steps removed from the mobile assembly stage. This was Apple knowing fully well about parts made by child labour that were directly being assembled into MacBooks. There simply is no excuse, whichever way you want to spin it and claim whataboutisms.
- Blikkentrekker 6y agoHow would that differ from knowing full well that the cobalt assembled into it is mined from slavery?
- fakedang 6y agoApple has direct control over being able to switch between parts suppliers - its an executive decision taken by Apple management. On the other hand, Apple can only instruct its manufacturer to not buy Cobalt from places exploiting child labor, even if they try as much to monitor their supply chain, since Cobalt is bought and sold on the open market.