Following the arrests of multiple editors and journalists from the Apple Daily in Hong Kong and the subsequent shuttering of the newspaper, the silence from many major U.S. corporations has been deafening. While companies like Google and Apple are quick to stand up for the free speech rights of people supporting liberal causes they approve of at home, those benefits are apparently not extended to anyone who is poking a finger in the eye of the Chinese Communist Party. You may find yourself wondering why that might be, but this is yet another simple case of needing to follow the money. While the forced closure of a newspaper advocating for democracy should be outrageous to any free individuals, many of these companies, along with the NBA, have failed to return repeated requests for comment on the situation in Hong Kong. And they apparently have no intention of being shamed into doing the right thing. (Free Beacon)

The Chinese government’s recent crackdown on journalists in Hong Kong has been met with silence from major U.S. corporations with extensive ties to the Communist regime.

Apple, Google, Nike, and the National Basketball Association did not return requests for comment on the arrest of at least seven Chinese journalists since June 17.

The targeted journalists are former employees of Apple Daily, a now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper based in Hong Kong. They were detained in accordance with a controversial “national security” law enacted in 2020 after authorities successfully stamped out pro-democracy protests in the former British territory.

The journalists in question were all arrested for violating Hong Kong’s toxic new “national security” law. The Free Beacon reminds us that the New York Times actually published an op-ed from someone praising the law and declaring that “Hong Kong is China whether you like it or not.”

Apple, Google, Nike, and the NBA all have well-established and very lucrative ties to China. All of them – particularly the NBA – are quick to raise their activist flags at home and seek to punish any states seen as enacting measures deemed unpopular among the woke crowd. But when an actual threat to democracy arises, such as the extermination of democratic principles in Hong Kong, they fall curiously silent.

We are also reminded of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s recent claims to be a vigilant supporter of democracy and a free press, but those commitments only apply in western nations. In China, Apple ceded control of its data centers to the Chinese Communist Party and removed its normal encryption protections so the government could more easily spy upon its citizens.

Google subsidiary YouTube regularly deletes videos that are critical of the CCP, despite the fact that both Google and YouTube are banned in China. They’re clearly still trying to get their foot back in the door there. And keep in mind that this is the same company whose logo was “Don’t Be Evil” until 2018.

You don’t need to know much more about Nike than the fact that its CEO recently made the unambiguous declaration that his company is “a brand of China and for China.”

But don’t try passing a voter ID law here in the United States. If you do, the hypocrites from Apple, Google, Nike, and the NBA will attempt to cancel your state and drive business away from it. They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again, all while stuffing their coffers with cash from the Chinese Communist Party.