This week, Jon Stewart devoted his edition of The Daily Show to tackling a topic that he claims his former bosses at Apple barred him from exploring. “I wanted to have you on a podcast and Apple asked us not to do it,” the late-night host said to his guest Monday night, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, referencing the companion podcast to his former series, The Problem with Jon Stewart that ended last October. “They literally said, ‘Please don’t talk to her.’”
Stewart’s remarks arrive less than two weeks after the U.S. Justice Department sued Apple for exploiting its monopoly in the tech market and violating antitrust laws. The lawsuit highlights Apple’s “power over content creators and newspapers” and notes that the company’s conduct “even affects the flow of speech,” adding, “Apple is rapidly expanding its role as a TV and movie producer and has exercised that role to control content.”
After joking that Apple killed Khan’s potential appearance on the podcast because “I didn’t think they cared for you,” Stewart alleged that Apple also told him not to discuss artificial intelligence. “They wouldn’t let us do even that dumb thing we just did in the first act on AI,” he said, referring to a segment earlier in that episode on the “false promise” of that technology. Stewart then asked Khan: “What is that sensitivity? Why are they so afraid to even have these conversations out in the public sphere?”
Khan replied, “I think it just shows the danger of what happens when you concentrate so much power and so much decision making in a small number of companies.”
When you work for Apple, Apple gets to tell you what to do. Same goes for any corporate owned media outlet.
Jon Stewart has more than enough money to just quit, which he did. Most normal folks do not have this luxury so they tow the line.
Welcome to the reality that the US economic system.
No real free speech, no real agency in our economy, captive regulators that like to masquerade as populist heros but rarely actually do any real damage to sociopathic corporations.
Jon Stewart has more than enough money to just quit, which he did.
Celebrity is often its own reward. And Stewart wasn’t getting much coverage when he didn’t have a show, despite some very sincere and fervent lobbying efforts during his retirement period.
No real free speech, no real agency in our economy, captive regulators that like to masquerade as populist heros but rarely actually do any real damage to sociopathic corporations.
One of the more infuriating bits about liberal agitprop shows is how fucking devoid of agitprop they actually are. Yeah, guys like Stewart and Colbert and Oliver can go on rhetorical tirades about the Big Evil Business Thing. But when push comes to shove, what do they actually advocate? Noncompliance? Organized revolt? A general strike? Confrontations with abusive and cartelized law enforcement? Any kind of material self-defense or defense of one’s friends and neighbors? Anything that might violate the latest round of right-wing prohibitions on health care or gender or speech?
Or do they just put on a “Rally to Restore Sanity” that tells people activism begins and ends with voting, in an election system that’s increasingly threadbare?
Lena Khan is amazing and taught me the word monopsylony. Absolutely stoked that Biden chose her and the fact that she is going so hard on creating a competitive environment
I want people to understand that when they vote for a president they’re also voting for all the administrative appointments as well. The stakes of who is president is already high enough, but if you want people like Lena Khan in charge, that also comes from your presidential vote.
As I’m Australian, I can’t do much haha. But I do know that the vibe on corporations and monoplane monopolies is being imported into Australia from the US particularly around our supermarkets and airlines
You mean “monopsony”?
Sorry, yeah that’ll teach me for writing before I’ve woken up
and taught me the word monopsylony
mo·nop·so·ny
noun.
ECONOMICS.
a market situation in which there is only one buyer. Definitions from Oxford
Man I wish he’d somehow start that podcast back up. It was so good. I really watch the show but the podcast I listen to every time it came out.
Edit: hold up, there might be hope. After making this post on a whim I checked on the podcast and there was a one minute trailer from February saying stick around he wants to do something with the podcast feed again. How about that? I mean almost 2 months ago so not quick but maybe hope.
Honestly what was he expecting? I think it was shitty and morally shady of him to even take Apple’s money, and he got what he should have expected.
Like working for Paramount is really any god damn different?
You can use that excuse sure. But apple having and wanting to keep good relations with China is expected, and taking their money and complaining about their shadyness, would be like taking money from Starbucks and then being surprised that they don’t like your anti union stories.
