Yesterday, spokespersons from Apple, Google, Uber, and other tech giants went on the record to state they would not help President-elect Donald Trump build a registry for Muslim-American citizens.
BuzzFeed reached out to the companies’ a day after Trump held a tech-related summit in New York City that included executives from the enterprises mentioned above and many others like Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos.
Oracle declined to comment on the record, following its CEO’s acceptance to become part of Trump’s transition committee. Elon Musk, from Tesla, and Travis Kalanick of Uber both are now part of Trump’s Advisory Council.
Trump has not officially asked for the Muslim registry
A spokesperson from Google firmly reiterated they would not be a part of any related scheme, but also clarified that they had not received any hint or request on the part of Trump’s administration to build such a registry.
Google also added that, as far as the company knows, the proposal for a Muslim registry is not yet on the table officially. Apple seconded both statements.
Before Trump, there was a Muslim registry. It caught no terrorists. https://t.co/5NhD25gYxi
— ACLU National (@ACLU) December 9, 2016
Uber representatives also said no, but did not elaborate upon request, and Amazon did not respond to any of BuzzFeed’s requests for comment. Facebook and Microsoft initially declined to comment but later stated that they would not help build a Muslim registry.
Did Donald Trump talk about a Muslim registry?
Over a thousand tech workers from a variety of businesses, many of them mentioned here, signed a pledge never to work in any system that would facilitate the collection of personal data based on religious or racial profiling.
The pledge now holds exactly 2,114 signatures and references previous instances of this type of behavior, including the Japanese-American registry and internment put into effect by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942.
The President-elect did advocate towards a Muslim record in the early stages of his presidential campaign. His speakers later denied any affiliations on his part with this proposal.
However, points like the establishment of new screening procedures, better immigration laws, and the temporary suspension of individual entry from “dangerous and volatile” regions around the world with “a history of exporting terrorism” still appear on his official campaign website.
Source: BuzzFeed
