# Examples of large FAANG groups silencing disagreement with their practices ## Small-scale actions Multiple - [2021-01 Twitter has suspended Sci-Hub's Twitter account](https://twitter.com/Sci_Hub), and [in 2022 the US government has gotten access to its founder's Apple account](https://web.archive.org/web/20220105123249/https://torrentfreak.com/fbi-has-gained-access-to-sci-hub-founders-apple-account-email-claims-210513/). - [2021-06 Google has taken down Xinjiang YouTube videos showcasing human rights violations](https://web.archive.org/web/20210625170526/https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-youtube-takes-down-xinjiang-videos-forces-rights-group-seek-2021-06-25/). - [2021-08 Law enforcement now uses warrants for Google's geo-fence information to criminally prosecute](https://web.archive.org/web/20210819230825/https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/19/google-geofence-warrants/). - [2021-09 Russia has required that Google and Apple remove a Navalny app right before Russia's elections began](https://web.archive.org/web/20210917063031/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/google-apple-remove-navalny-app-stores-russian-elections-begin-2021-09-17/). - [2022-02 Amazon was able to get the FBI to drag this family through a harrowing nearly two-year ordeal](https://web.archive.org/web/20220218170423/https://medium.com/@amy_riveter/the-united-states-of-amazon-the-day-amazon-sent-the-fbi-to-take-my-familys-bank-accounts-b5172b4ddda3). - [2022-06 Pirated content website blocking is making its way into free trade agreements](https://web.archive.org/web/20220614190525/https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-site-blocking-is-making-its-way-into-free-trade-agreements-220508/). - [2022-06 Big Tech companies say they honor privacy, but try to undermine government data rules](https://web.archive.org/web/20220611054334/https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/27/big_tech_privacy/). - [2022-08 OnlyFans bribed Meta to put competing porn stars on the terrorist watch list](https://web.archive.org/web/20220809211903/https://nypost.com/2022/08/09/onlyfans-bribed-meta-to-put-thousands-of-porn-stars-on-terror-watchlist-suits-claim/). Government - USA - [2021-07 Chicago PD used gunshot-detecting AI ShotSpotter's data as central to a criminal case, though there's no empirical evidence that ShotSpotter works](https://web.archive.org/web/20210726134054/https://www.vice.com/en/article/qj8xbq/police-are-telling-shotspotter-to-alter-evidence-from-gunshot-detecting-ai). - [2021-10 Missouri's governor is trying to prosecute a reporter who found a security flaw in a state website](https://web.archive.org/web/20211014153146/https://missouriindependent.com/2021/10/14/missouri-governor-vows-criminal-prosecution-of-reporter-who-found-flaw-in-state-website/). - [2022-01 Anti-China sentiment has led to false-positives for Chinese spies in the US government](https://web.archive.org/web/20220225185315/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/science/gang-chen-mit-china.html). - [2022-11 The Air Force and FBI raided the home of someone who ran an Area 51 website](https://web.archive.org/web/20221116231208/https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/military/air-force-fbi-raid-homes-in-probe-of-area-51-website-2677764/). - [2023-06 Utah blocks users in the state from accessing Pornhub on the claims of the state's age verification law](https://web.archive.org/web/20230602195255/https://kslnewsradio.com/2003298/adult-website-pornhub-blocks-users-in-utah-from-accessing-the-site/). Government - China - [2015-04 China's Great Cannon, which is co-located with its Great Firewall, can DDoS any site they choose](https://web.archive.org/web/20170720153119/https://citizenlab.ca/2015/04/chinas-great-cannon/). - [2021-09 China will kidnap your wife if you speak poorly about their government](https://web.archive.org/web/20210906110801/https://www.npr.org/2021/09/06/1034556269/red-roulette-reveals-the-inside-of-chinas-wealth-making-machine). Government - Saudi Arabia - [2021-10 A New York Times journalist was targeted by NSO Group's Pegasus after reporting on being targeted by Saudi Arabia's operator](https://web.archive.org/web/20211024090631/https://citizenlab.ca/2021/10/breaking-news-new-york-times-journalist-ben-hubbard-pegasus/). Facebook/Meta - [2021-08 Facebook banned New York University researchers who were investigating Facebook ads](https://web.archive.org/web/20210804163833/https://www.dailydot.com/debug/facebook-bans-researchers-providing-transparency-on-sites-ads/). Apple - [2021-06 Apple has a history of stealing ideas and then hyping it to render the original creator obsolete, and it's informally called "Sherlocking"](https://web.archive.org/web/20210608153311/https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/06/08/apple-strikes-again-which-developers-got-sherlocked-at-wwdc). - [2021-09 Apple blocked the FlickType keyboard (a keyboard for the blind), then released an update with their clone of it](https://web.archive.org/web/20210915121519/https://www.inputmag.com/tech/apple-blocked-the-flicktype-watch-keyboard-then-announced-a-clone-of-it). Amazon - [2021-04 Twitch, owned by Amazon, will ban users by the broad definition of "severe misconduct" away from their site](https://web.archive.org/web/20210407172946/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitch-moderation/twitch-will-ban-users-for-severe-misconduct-that-occurs-away-from-its-site-idUSKBN2BU2QJ). - [2022-02 Audiblegate: Audible is not giving publishers their royalties and making them absorb some transaction costs](https://web.archive.org/web/20220213104303/https://twitter.com/wdfpodcast/status/1492810241372741636). - [2023-05 A blogger who criticized Amazon's policies was harassed by Amazon's lawyers later](https://web.archive.org/web/20230530173410/https://twitter.com/Molson_Hart/status/1663582588210905091). Google/Alphabet - [2021-03 ClearURL, which clears tracking elements of URLs, got removed from the Google Chrome Addons Store](https://web.archive.org/web/20210324020146/https://github.com/ClearURLs/Addon/issues/102). - [2021-04 Adding a link to a donation page on your app violates "Google Play's Policies"](https://web.archive.org/web/20210410155200/https://agateau.com/2021/google-does-not-want-you-to-tell-your-players-about-your-donation-page/). - [2021-04 Roku may lose the YouTube TV app if it doesn't give Google exclusive access to user data](https://web.archive.org/web/20210426135655/https://www.axios.com/roku-google-youtube-tv-dispute-525316c1-4d66-44e3-a96a-40db7b10e05b.html). - [2021-08 Google removed Language Transfer from their Play Store for having a link to their website](https://web.archive.org/web/20210813182419/https://github.com/language-transfer/lt-app/pull/44). - [2021-11 YouTube shut down live court streams of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial](https://web.archive.org/web/20211115172756/https://twitter.com/ReturnOfTheFleX/status/1460295030187438088). - [2022-08 Google will not reinstate a user's account who had taking medical images of his son's groin](https://web.archive.org/web/20220822233801/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/22/google-csam-account-blocked). - [2022-09 Google shut down Kapwing because it was using software to download YouTube videos](https://web.archive.org/web/20220919071249/https://www.kapwing.com/blog/google-erased-our-website/). - [2023-09 YouTube blocks the comedian/actor Russell Brand from making money with their platform](https://web.archive.org/web/20230919111212/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/arts/russell-brand-youtube.html). - [2023-10 Google forced Wired to take down content connected to its antitrust lawsuit](https://web.archive.org/web/20231030153813/https://www.wired.com/story/google-antitrust-lawsuit-search-results/) ([original content here](https://web.archive.org/web/20231030153813/https://www.wired.com/story/google-antitrust-lawsuit-search-results/)). Microsoft - [2021-11 Joining the .NET foundation may very well mean giving up your source code to Microsoft's ownership](https://web.archive.org/web/20211117233720/https://github.com/dotnet-foundation/Home/discussions/39). - [2022-06 This Hacker News user was banned from LinkedIn for reporting spam for Wickr's chat app](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31762904). Twitter/X - [2021-12 Twitter shut down the court trial tracker profile while the Ghislaine Maxwell trial was ongoing](https://web.archive.org/web/20211208141839/https://patriotone.substack.com/p/twitter-suspension). Academia - [2021-07 The Chronicle has run a hit piece on the founder of Sci-Hub](https://web.archive.org/web/20210709013921/https://engineuring.wordpress.com/2021/07/09/how-the-chronicle-is-trying-to-malign-sci-hub/). - [2021-04 Proctorio tried to silence a security researcher who investigated its source code by falsely making a DMCA claim to Twitter](https://web.archive.org/web/20210421232838/https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-sues-proctorio-behalf-student-it-falsely-accused-copyright-infringement-get). Telecom Providers - [2021-05 Internet service providers used fake comments to manufacture outrage at net neutrality](https://web.archive.org/web/20210506152035/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/technology/internet-providers-fake-comments-net-neutrality-new-york.html). - [2022-05 ISPs can't find any California judges who will block net neutrality](https://web.archive.org/web/20220518064331/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/04/isps-cant-find-any-judges-who-will-block-california-net-neutrality-law/). Other Organizations - [2018-07 This Airbnb customer was banned for contesting the review process for a dubious host review](https://web.archive.org/web/20210301152955/https://jacksoncunningham.medium.com/digital-exile-how-i-got-banned-for-life-from-airbnb-615434c6eeba). - [2021-02 Twitter has suspended media watchdog right-wing whistleblower Project Veritas' account](https://web.archive.org/web/20210211233401/https://nypost.com/2021/02/11/twitter-permanently-suspends-project-veritas-account/). - [2021-06 Replit used legal threats to shut down this open-source developer's perfectly legal project](https://web.archive.org/web/20210607153440/https://intuitiveexplanations.com/tech/replit/). - [2021-09 Ubiquiti is putting ads on the management interface for their hardware](https://web.archive.org/web/20210923121112/https://twitter.com/superdealloc/status/1376626243865604100). - [2021-11 Stockholm city sent cybercrime investigators after parents who made an open-source app for a school platform](https://web.archive.org/web/20211104111529/https://www.wired.co.uk/article/sweden-stockholm-school-app-open-source). - [2022-01 PayPal has been freezing customers' funds, but not telling them why](https://web.archive.org/web/20220114074127/https://www.engadget.com/paypal-lawsuit-freezing-customer-accounts-funds-073128563.html), including [Larry Brandt's account that funded servers that ran Tor nodes](https://web.archive.org/web/20220124153542/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/06/paypal-shuts-down-long-time-tor-supporter-no-recourse). - [2022-07 Glassdoor's user reviews are not as anonymous as they appear, and a company's request for that person's information is now legal](https://web.archive.org/web/20220718181002/https://www.webworm.co/p/glassdoor). - [2022-12 MSG ejected a mother from a Radio City Rockettes concert who was detected with facial recognition technology to be an attorney, though her work was fully unrelated to MSG](https://web.archive.org/web/20221220035508/https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/face-recognition-tech-gets-girl-scout-mom-booted-from-rockettes-show-due-to-her-employer/4004677/). - [2023-03 MailChimp blacklists the IP of any user who opens up the browser's dev tools](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35235732). - [2023-06 Reddit banned a user for recommending Lemmy as a viable alternative to Reddit](https://web.archive.org/web/20230612042626/https://lemmy.ml/post/1152281). ## Large-scale actions Multiple - [2020-01 After the FBI complained, Apple doesn't encrypt backups to iCloud](https://web.archive.org/web/20200121123026/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-fbi-icloud-exclusive-idUSKBN1ZK1CT). - [2020-12 Good, Cheap and Fast was shut down by multiple FAANG corporations](https://web.archive.org/web/20201211172050/https://www.goodcheapandfast.com/2020). - [2021-04 Apple and Google's mobile app stores stifle competition and hurt consumers](https://web.archive.org/web/20210428001623/https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/dominance-of-apple-and-google%E2%80%99s-app-stores-impacting-competition-and-consumers). - [2021-07 Amazon got Apple to remove a fake Amazon review detector from Apple's App Store](https://web.archive.org/web/20210716212724/https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/16/22580611/fakespot-ios-app-apple-amazon-fake-reviews). - [2021-10 Apple lied to Congress about its secret relationship with Netflix](https://web.archive.org/web/20211002183555/https://twitter.com/TechEmails/status/1444367219509637123). - [2021-10 Google worked with Facebook to bypass Apple's privacy protections with the "Jedi Blue" project](https://web.archive.org/web/20211022225320/https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/22/google_facebook_antitrust_complaint/), and [this was a formalized agreement to collude](https://web.archive.org/web/20220108134755/https://twitter.com/PatrickMcGee_/status/1451619916994396164). - [2022-01 Google is paying Apple to keep Apple out of the search engine business](https://web.archive.org/web/20220104020614/https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/class-action-lawsuit-filed-in-california-alleging-google-is-paying-apple-to-stay-out-of-the-search-engine-business-301453098.html). - [2022-01 The music industry is suing Uberspace for hosting the website for youtube-dl, a general-purpose YouTube video download script](https://web.archive.org/web/20220114025845/https://boingboing.net/2022/01/08/forced-by-shortages-to-sell-chipless-cartridges-canon-tells-customers-how-to-bypass-drm-warnings.html), and [it's an ongoing battle](https://web.archive.org/web/20220608023056/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/03/campaign-shut-down-crucial-documentary-tool-youtube-dl-continues-and-so-does-fight). - [2022-07 Uber broke laws, obstructed police, lobbied with governments, and worked with politicians to keep their business model running](https://web.archive.org/web/20220710160225/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/10/uber-files-leak-reveals-global-lobbying-campaign), as well as [blocking law enforcement to get to their drivers](https://web.archive.org/web/20220711170548/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-f2971465-73d2-4932-a889-5c63778e273d). They [also had plans to protect themselves legally if they were found out](https://web.archive.org/web/20220711144617/https://tribunemag.co.uk/2022/07/uber-files-leak-gig-economy). Government - USA - [2021-05 The FBI has subpoenaed the founder of Sci-Hub for no clear reason](https://web.archive.org/web/20210508115640/https://twitter.com/ringo_ring/status/1390782451140767749). - [2021-07 An artist/coder was harassed by the Secret Service for publishing photos from Apple devices](https://web.archive.org/web/20210708221531/https://kylemcdonald.net/psac/). - [2022-08 The Xcel utility company locked 22,000 people out of their thermostats during 90 degree weather](https://web.archive.org/web/20220907175557/https://www.denver7.com/news/contact-denver7/thousands-of-xcel-customers-locked-out-of-thermostats-during-energy-emergency). - [2022-11 The FBI seized domains for ZLibrary, which provided access to free books](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33460970). Government - China - [2020-09 China has blocked the Wikimedia Commons from entering the World Intellectual Property Organization](https://web.archive.org/web/20200926050030/https://qz.com/1908836/china-blocks-wikimedia-from-un-agency-wipo-over-taiwan-dispute/). Facebook/Meta - [2021-08 Facebook has falsely claimed that Mozilla's Ad Observer plugin for researching third-party advertisements is violating privacy](https://web.archive.org/web/20210804173900/https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/news/why-facebooks-claims-about-the-ad-observer-are-wrong/). - [2021-10 Facebook has sent a Cease and Desist letter to the developer of the Unfollow Everything plugin](https://web.archive.org/web/20211008135740/https://www.techspot.com/news/91650-facebook-bans-sends-cease-desist-letter-developer-unfollow.html). Google/Alphabet - [2021-08 Google's "Project Hug" paid tons of money to keep game developers in the Play Store while still collecting a 30% royalty](https://web.archive.org/web/20210819193021/https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/19/22632818/google-project-hug-game-developers-play-store-millions-epic-lawsuit-complaint). - [2022-03 YouTube suspended The Hill because of a video of Donald Trump denying the 2020 presidential election results](https://web.archive.org/web/20220324214445/https://www.tampafp.com/youtube-suspends-the-hills-channel-for-playing-clip-of-donald-trump-denying-election-results/). - [2022-04 Google Docs will now "warn you away from inappropriate words"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220421025943/https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/1516463416885399554). Apple - [2022-06 Apple claims to protect users for security reasons, but is *less* secure than competitors](https://web.archive.org/web/20220627142014/https://twitter.com/OpenWebAdvocacy/status/1541318055636369409). - [2022-12 Apple created its own labor group to prevent unionization](https://web.archive.org/web/20221217003953/https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/16/apple_decoy_labor_group/). Other - [2022-06 DuckDuckGo removed Pirate Bay and Youtube-dl](https://web.archive.org/web/20220607094609/https://torrentfreak.com/duckduckgo-removes-pirate-sites-and-youtube-dl-from-its-search-results-220415/), but [then put them back in again](https://web.archive.org/web/20220508170807/https://fosstodon.org/@rudolf/108147439615842718).