5 ms·

It’ll never happen, but how wonderful would it be for a major international company to simply withdraw from a country that manages to push through crazy rules?

by wepple 3y ago

bhewes 3y ago
This already happened to Russia.
- phpisthebest 3y ago
  While many companies did try to get a PR bump from it, most companies pulled out due to government imposed economic sanctions on Russia, not because they had an ethical or moral drive to punish Russia for their actions
- RobotToaster 3y ago
  The government then seized all the McDonald's and reopened them. Apparently the food quality got slightly better too.
dopidopHN 3y ago
I’m waiting for that day with anguish, the nation state has run its curse. All hail our corporate overlords. I would take a Amazon citizenship, if push come to shelve I could probably live in a wholefood community garden.
jrockway 3y ago
Probably feasible. When the UK was part of the EU, it was probably too big of a market to leave. Now that they're out on their own, it's less difficult.
- dave4420 3y ago
  It’s not just giving up the revenue, it’s also moving the engineering. How many engineers, product designers etc does Apple employ in the UK? I have no idea.
  - wepple 3y ago
    I’d argue the latter would indeed be a challenge for Apple, but also a significant part of the threat toward a country
skywhopper 3y ago
The UK is not a big enough market to credibly threaten this sort of veto. Easy enough to exclude them and continue to serve the rest of the world. The UK will fold well before Apple would need to.
- kergonath 3y ago
  If recent history is any guide, the UK will fold by next Monday, have a cabinet reshuffle 2 days later following a MP revolt, a leadership contest in a month, and a wilting turnip as a PM after that.
  - tialaramex 3y ago
    It's true that some Tories want Rishi to go, but the problem is they have no credible replacement. They already had to dredge a Lord from the upper chamber back for a Great Office of State, which is legal but completely contemptuous. Like, sure, get a Lord to be Minister for Steam Engines or something, but Foreign Secretary? You are having a laugh. Imagine you're charged with putting forward two names to the Tory members. Remember if you put one serious answer and one joke, the addled members might pick the joke, which is why we got Truss, so don't do that. You need two people who want the job. Aside from Rishi, who has the job now, who do you think even wants this job ?
    - kergonath 3y ago
      > They already had to dredge a Lord from the upper chamber back for a Great Office of State, which is legal but completely contemptuous. It’s worse than that. They had to put him there first in order to dredge him from it. I love how the UK is a fascinating mixture of modernism and traditions, but this fits right in the return to the 19th century theme some Conservatives seem to want. > Like, sure, get a Lord to be Minister for Steam Engines or something, but Foreign Secretary? You are having a laugh. Indeed. And steam engines are very relevant because this kind of fudge is completely anachronistic. > Aside from Rishi, who has the job now, who do you think even wants this job ? You could take the Mogg out of his coffin, I suppose. I am not sure he’d have many supporters but he would probably be flattered. Boris would do anything for a blowjob or if it could help him avoid doing something a bit difficult. I am not sure Truss got the message, from what I have heard of her post-PM speeches. There are plenty of faceless xenophobic ex-ERG types who seem to be convinced they are the only true patriots. I can imagine one of them getting delusions of grandeur and overestimating their popularity. Truth be told, it’s become difficult to imagine how low the Conservatives would go in a leadership contest. And as long as they are the ones deciding who gets a shot at beating Truss, anything goes. Hopefully things will become more sensible after a general election, but at this point I will need to see it to believe it.
make3 3y ago
it's weird to me that you're taking for Apple here. the issue is more that big corps are able to impose their will into countries than the reverse
- dwaite 3y ago
  It is a give and take; governments can give requirements to do business but can't mandate business is done.
- wepple 3y ago
  In general, I advocate for the people to have freedom against any negative and controlling centralized power. Government and corporates both.
jeroenhd 3y ago
Depends on the size of the market, of course. Apple is trying to tell the British public to correct their laws so they don't need to make difficult decisions, or even worse, spend money customising their software for the UK market. Apple doesn't have a problem with following the Chinese laws and have set up an entirely separate network for their iCloud backups. Of course they'll make more in China yhan they'll make in the UK, but its clear that Apple is willing to comply with the law if a large enough part of their bottom line is at stake.
- calvinmorrison 3y ago
  It is a problem, because companies cannot truly be multinational. When a Chinese Citizen is executed for political dissent as a direct result of American CEOs rolling over to get markets share in a hostile hellhole They should be put on trial like the French concrete firm who was dealing with ISIS
  - smoldesu 3y ago
    "Why are you booing him, he's right?" https://youtu.be/75GaqVWqEXU https://youtu.be/75GaqVWqEXU Multinational companies exist insofar as we can agree politically. When we prioritize the economy, we create insane double-standards that encourage corrupt lawmaking and endless lobbying. If we don't take these problems seriously at-home, nobody does, and then we get Foxconn suicide nets and nightmarish international dependencies.
- flir 3y ago
  That's a weird way to do lobbying. Our politicians are cheap by American standards!
oh_sigh 3y ago
Google divested from China after China put in some crazy rules like "we can and will hack you with impunity"

It’ll never happen, but how wonderful would it be for a major international company to simply withdraw from a country that manages to push through crazy rules?

by wepple 3y ago

It’ll never happen, but how wonderful would it be for a major international company to simply withdraw from a country that manages to push through crazy rules?

bhewes 3y ago

This already happened to Russia.

phpisthebest 3y ago
While many companies did try to get a PR bump from it, most companies pulled out due to government imposed economic sanctions on Russia, not because they had an ethical or moral drive to punish Russia for their actions
RobotToaster 3y ago
The government then seized all the McDonald's and reopened them. Apparently the food quality got slightly better too.

dopidopHN 3y ago

I’m waiting for that day with anguish, the nation state has run its curse. All hail our corporate overlords. I would take a Amazon citizenship, if push come to shelve I could probably live in a wholefood community garden.

jrockway 3y ago

Probably feasible. When the UK was part of the EU, it was probably too big of a market to leave. Now that they're out on their own, it's less difficult.

dave4420 3y ago
It’s not just giving up the revenue, it’s also moving the engineering. How many engineers, product designers etc does Apple employ in the UK? I have no idea.
- wepple 3y ago
  I’d argue the latter would indeed be a challenge for Apple, but also a significant part of the threat toward a country

skywhopper 3y ago

The UK is not a big enough market to credibly threaten this sort of veto. Easy enough to exclude them and continue to serve the rest of the world. The UK will fold well before Apple would need to.

kergonath 3y ago
If recent history is any guide, the UK will fold by next Monday, have a cabinet reshuffle 2 days later following a MP revolt, a leadership contest in a month, and a wilting turnip as a PM after that.
- tialaramex 3y ago
  It's true that some Tories want Rishi to go, but the problem is they have no credible replacement. They already had to dredge a Lord from the upper chamber back for a Great Office of State, which is legal but completely contemptuous. Like, sure, get a Lord to be Minister for Steam Engines or something, but Foreign Secretary? You are having a laugh. Imagine you're charged with putting forward two names to the Tory members. Remember if you put one serious answer and one joke, the addled members might pick the joke, which is why we got Truss, so don't do that. You need two people who want the job. Aside from Rishi, who has the job now, who do you think even wants this job ?
  - kergonath 3y ago
    > They already had to dredge a Lord from the upper chamber back for a Great Office of State, which is legal but completely contemptuous. It’s worse than that. They had to put him there first in order to dredge him from it. I love how the UK is a fascinating mixture of modernism and traditions, but this fits right in the return to the 19th century theme some Conservatives seem to want. > Like, sure, get a Lord to be Minister for Steam Engines or something, but Foreign Secretary? You are having a laugh. Indeed. And steam engines are very relevant because this kind of fudge is completely anachronistic. > Aside from Rishi, who has the job now, who do you think even wants this job ? You could take the Mogg out of his coffin, I suppose. I am not sure he’d have many supporters but he would probably be flattered. Boris would do anything for a blowjob or if it could help him avoid doing something a bit difficult. I am not sure Truss got the message, from what I have heard of her post-PM speeches. There are plenty of faceless xenophobic ex-ERG types who seem to be convinced they are the only true patriots. I can imagine one of them getting delusions of grandeur and overestimating their popularity. Truth be told, it’s become difficult to imagine how low the Conservatives would go in a leadership contest. And as long as they are the ones deciding who gets a shot at beating Truss, anything goes. Hopefully things will become more sensible after a general election, but at this point I will need to see it to believe it.

make3 3y ago

it's weird to me that you're taking for Apple here. the issue is more that big corps are able to impose their will into countries than the reverse

dwaite 3y ago
It is a give and take; governments can give requirements to do business but can't mandate business is done.
wepple 3y ago
In general, I advocate for the people to have freedom against any negative and controlling centralized power. Government and corporates both.

jeroenhd 3y ago

Depends on the size of the market, of course. Apple is trying to tell the British public to correct their laws so they don't need to make difficult decisions, or even worse, spend money customising their software for the UK market. Apple doesn't have a problem with following the Chinese laws and have set up an entirely separate network for their iCloud backups. Of course they'll make more in China yhan they'll make in the UK, but its clear that Apple is willing to comply with the law if a large enough part of their bottom line is at stake.

calvinmorrison 3y ago
It is a problem, because companies cannot truly be multinational. When a Chinese Citizen is executed for political dissent as a direct result of American CEOs rolling over to get markets share in a hostile hellhole They should be put on trial like the French concrete firm who was dealing with ISIS
- smoldesu 3y ago
  "Why are you booing him, he's right?" https://youtu.be/75GaqVWqEXU https://youtu.be/75GaqVWqEXU Multinational companies exist insofar as we can agree politically. When we prioritize the economy, we create insane double-standards that encourage corrupt lawmaking and endless lobbying. If we don't take these problems seriously at-home, nobody does, and then we get Foxconn suicide nets and nightmarish international dependencies.
flir 3y ago
That's a weird way to do lobbying. Our politicians are cheap by American standards!

oh_sigh 3y ago

Google divested from China after China put in some crazy rules like "we can and will hack you with impunity"