# Examples of FAANG using deception to hide their practices Government - China - [2021-09 Lithuania has discovered that Chinese phones must be thrown away because of their built-in censorship capabilities](https://web.archive.org/web/20210922120857/https://www.nksc.lt/doc/en/analysis/2021-08-23_5G-CN-analysis_env3.pdf). - [2022-04 TikTok shows entirely different stories about the Ukraine war to Russia vs. Ukraine](https://web.archive.org/web/20220405110159/https://www.nrk.no/osloogviken/xl/tiktok-doesn_t-show-the-war-in-ukraine-to-russian-users-1.15921522). - [2022-07 China is heavily censoring its economic mortgage crisis](https://archive.is/20220716173932/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-15/china-mortgage-boycott-data-erased-by-censors-as-crisis-spreads). - [2022-11 Huawei phones are automatically deleting videos of Chinese protesters](https://web.archive.org/web/20221130171525/https://twitter.com/msmelchen/status/1597807914395500545). Government - US - [2015-12 The NSA required Juniper Networks to install a buggy software backdoor in its product, which was subsequently breached](https://archive.is/QISk9). - [2023-03 Health officials delayed a report linking fluoride to brain harm after health and dental groups challenged the report's validity](https://web.archive.org/web/20230317035200/https://www.salon.com/2023/03/16/health-officials-delayed-report-linking-fluoride-to-brain-harm_partner/). - [2023-08 Cellebrite, a phone hacking company, has required law enforcement contractually to keep their activities secret](https://archive.is/20230819233310/https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/19/cellebrite-asks-cops-to-keep-its-phone-hacking-tech-hush-hush/). Multiple - [2021-05 Google's YouTube has approved Belarus' government sharing ads for a journalist they detained from the hijacked Ryanair plane they diverted](https://web.archive.org/web/20210525144106/https://twitter.com/TadeuszGiczan/status/1397200848145559552). - [2021-08 Google is paying Apple $15 billion to stay as Safari browser's main search engine for 2021](https://web.archive.org/web/20210825200643/https://9to5mac.com/2021/08/25/analysts-google-to-pay-apple-15-billion-to-remain-default-safari-search-engine-in-2021/). - [2022-01 Apple signed a 276-billion-dollar deal with China to give them more technological power](https://web.archive.org/web/20220104004934/https://www.macrumors.com/2021/12/07/apple-ceo-tim-cook-secret-deal-with-china/). - [2021-11 Apple makes enough money from their ads that they're quietly buying Google ads for high-value subscription apps without the app developers' permission, and Google isn't deleting them](https://web.archive.org/web/20211112185142/https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2021/11/12/apple-quietly-buying-ads-via-google-for-high-value-subscription-apps-to-capture-app-publisher-revenue/). - [2022-08 Facebook censored the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020 because they were threatened by the FBI](https://web.archive.org/web/20220826124321/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62688532). - [2022-08 Google pays billions of dollars every year to Apple, Samsung, and other telecom companies to maintain their dominance as a search engine](https://archive.is/pfQWv). - [2022-09 A report by Mozilla indicates that Apple, Google, and Microsoft force their users to use the system's default browsers (Safari, Chrome, and Edge respectively)](https://web.archive.org/web/20220923185418/https://www.techradar.com/news/mozilla-claims-apple-google-and-microsoft-force-users-to-use-default-web-browsers). - [2022-12 Twitter heavily curated their content, and blocked the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020, which affected the 2020 US Presidential election](https://web.archive.org/web/20230315103531/https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1598822959866683394). - [2023-01 Twitter and YouTube have removed a documentary criticizing India's Prime Minister Modi](https://web.archive.org/web/20230124235623/https://theintercept.com/2023/01/24/twitter-elon-musk-modi-india-bbc/). - [2023-05 Steam blocked the Dolphin emulator from their service because Nintendo requested, even though they didn't need to](https://web.archive.org/web/20230527150344/https://mastodon.delroth.net/@delroth/110440301402516214). - [2023-05 Twitter blocked content to influence the election in Turkey](https://web.archive.org/web/20230515022017/https://news.gab.com/2023/05/elon-musks-compliance-with-turkish-censorship-demands-a-dangerous-precedent-for-free-speech/). Facebook/Meta - [2018-03 WhatsApp used to have a question in their FAQ about not sharing user data](https://web.archive.org/web/20180326125007/https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/26000016), but has since removed it. - [2021-08 Facebook has suppressed a report that would indicate that conservative political content is the most attention-grabbing](https://web.archive.org/web/20210821000057/https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/20/22634841/facebook-most-viewed-content-report-look-bad). - [2021-08 Facebook is silently censoring links, but delivering "sent receipts"](https://web.archive.org/web/20210828203208/https://twitter.com/kylejohnmorris/status/1431714982782066688). - [2021-09 Certain high-profile individuals are exempt from some or all of their algorithm's rules](https://web.archive.org/web/20210913144339/https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-files-xcheck-zuckerberg-elite-rules-11631541353). - [2021-09 Facebook is suppressing references to open source social media such as Mastodon](https://web.archive.org/web/20210911172845/https://changelog.complete.org/archives/10285-facebook-censored-me-for-mentioning-open-source-social-network-mastodon). - [2022-07 Facebook is fighting the privacy improvement of URL stripping by encrypting their links](https://web.archive.org/web/20220717132610/https://www.ghacks.net/2022/07/17/facebook-has-started-to-encrypt-links-to-counter-privacy-improving-url-stripping/). - [2023-09 Facebook will block a link to privacy tips from the EFF](https://archive.ph/20230929160829/https://techhub.social/@kirbstr/111148950526108155). Amazon - [2021-03 One of Amazon's top revenue streams is through advertising](https://web.archive.org/web/20210314182717/https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2021/3/14/do-amazon-ads-bring-in-more-cash-than-aws). - [2022-01 Amazon has been creating knockoff products and manipulating search results to bury competition in India](https://web.archive.org/web/20220114133700/https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/amazon-india-rigging/). - [2022-05 Statistical analysis proves that Amazon uses its Echo speaker to more accurately serve ads to consumers](https://web.archive.org/web/20220531043717/https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.10920). - [2022-04 Amazon's internal chat app blocks words like "union", "pay raise", "bathrooms", and "plantation"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220608122133/https://theintercept.com/2022/04/04/amazon-union-living-wage-restrooms-chat-app/). - [2022-03 Getting personal data from Amazon requires weeks of tedium and stress](https://web.archive.org/web/20220512114847/https://theintercept.com/2022/03/27/amazon-personal-data-request-dark-pattern/). - [2022-07 Amazon permits cheap junk to flood its store](https://web.archive.org/web/20220721212744/https://twitter.com/ColeSouth/status/1550230795230781440). - [2022-09 IMDb deleted all the negative reviews for a movie "The Rings of Power"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220902165040/https://old.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/x46870/imdb_have_deleted_all_the_negative_reviews_for/). - [2022-04 Amazon's "Iliad" project uses dark patterns to make it intentionally difficult to cancel a Prime membership](https://web.archive.org/web/20220430004612/https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/amazon-prime-subscription-cancel-secret-project-b2038207.html). - [2023-06 This user was blocked from Amazon because of a delivery driver's unsubstantiated claims of racist remarks](https://archive.is/BfaGK). Apple - [2022-01 Apple was trying to take a 30% cut from other unrelated services like Uber, Lyft, and Postmates](https://web.archive.org/web/20220112190148/https://twitter.com/TechEmails/status/1481339345822879745). - [2021-04 Apple is permitting fraudulent App Store ratings in their most popular apps](https://web.archive.org/web/20210428061013/https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1381986746661892096). - [2021-06 Apple has arbitrarily ranked their Files app over Dropbox](https://web.archive.org/web/20210611173533/https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/11/22528701/apple-rank-own-app-over-competitor-files-dropbox-wwdc-2017). - [2021-05 iMessages take an absurd amount of space, which advances iCloud's use](https://web.archive.org/web/20210627070619/https://keydiscussions.com/2021/05/28/apple-charges-for-storing-gigabytes-worth-of-old-imessages-you-cant-reliably-access/). - [2022-09 Over half of the funding from a seemingly unrelated small developer activist group called the App Association comes from Apple](https://web.archive.org/web/20220919180128/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/09/apple-is-top-funder-of-lobby-group-that-says-it-represents-small-developers/). - [2022-11 Apple has lowered its data transfer service AirDrop's time limit to 10 minutes](https://web.archive.org/web/20221110204123/https://www.macworld.com/article/1377200/apple-to-limit-airdrop-everyone-setting-to-10-minutes.html), which [coincidentally happened around China's Sitong Bridge protest](https://web.archive.org/web/20221111015632/https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2022/11/netizen-voices-apple-restricts-airdrop-in-china-after-sitong-bridge-protest/). - [2023-01 Hosting a show with Apple Podcasts means it can only be hosted with Apple Podcasts](https://web.archive.org/web/20230125182510/https://basta.substack.com/p/the-absolute-audacity-of-apple-podcasts). - [2023-06 Apple may force a 111-year-old fruit company to change its apple logo](https://web.archive.org/web/20230619153533/https://www.androidauthority.com/apple-swiss-fruit-company-change-logo-3336622/). - [2023-07 Apple has created Private Access Tokens to declare some devices illegitimate to use the internet](https://web.archive.org/web/20230726065516/https://httptoolkit.com/blog/apple-private-access-tokens-attestation/). - [2023-10 Apple has claimed that it hid devices' MAC addresses for years, but they have been public the whole time](https://web.archive.org/web/20231026220124/https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/10/iphone-privacy-feature-hiding-wi-fi-macs-has-failed-to-work-for-3-years/). - [2023-11 Apple has allowed user location tracking for years without their permission](https://web.archive.org/web/20231130165228/https://wingu.se/2023/11/30/only-apple-can-do-allow-apps-tracking-users-location-without-consensus.html). Google/Alphabet - [2017-01 Chromium's Widevine DRM can no longer be disabled](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=686430). - [2020-01 Google Drive removes shared files it deems "misleading content"](https://web.archive.org/web/20201107034820/https://support.google.com/docs/answer/148505). - [2020-07 41% of Google's first page of results are Google products, with the top 15% of the page being 63% Google](https://web.archive.org/web/20200728122742/https://themarkup.org/google-the-giant/2020/07/28/google-search-results-prioritize-google-products-over-competitors). - [2020-08 Google's Android SafetyNet makes installing alternative ROMs more difficult or impossible](https://web.archive.org/web/20200803122559/https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/06/29/googles-dreaded-safetynet-hardware-check-has-been-spotted-in-the-wild/). - [2021-04 Google Drive won't let you download from them if you've blocked third-party cookies](https://web.archive.org/web/20210414184929/https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2423534?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop). - [2021-06 Google intentionally hides specific content from search results](https://web.archive.org/web/20210610140957/https://twitter.com/kashhill/status/1402986015107653647). - [2021-06 Google's Android TV update severely broke the system with intrusive ads](https://web.archive.org/web/20210626204226/https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.tvlauncher&showAllReviews=true). - [2021-09 Google automatically installs itself as the default search on Android OS](https://web.archive.org/web/20210930121459/https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58749525). - [2021-09 Google's corporate culture redefines the meanings of words and avoids certain "bad" words](https://web.archive.org/web/20210917065607/https://zyppy.com/blog/googlespeak/). - In 2022, YouTube [removed the dislike count on all its videos](https://web.archive.org/web/20220203095015/https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/10/youtube-is-removing-the-dislike-count-on-all-videos-across-its-platform/), and [auto-deletes comments that disapprove of it](https://web.archive.org/web/20211129195607/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43wp_EUk2ho). They also [removed the "sort by oldest/newest" option to hide older content](https://web.archive.org/web/20230509231237/https://piunikaweb.com/2023/05/05/youtube-sorting-option-for-viewing-oldest-video-missing-heres-why/). - [2022-01 Google's secret "Project Vivian" was designed to "convince" employees "that unions suck"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220111212332/https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7d7j9/google-had-secret-project-to-convince-employees-that-unions-suck). - [2022-01 Google rewrites many page titles beyond minor corrections](https://web.archive.org/web/20220126133803/https://zyppy.com/blog/google-title-rewrite-study/). - [2022-02 Google Camera autocorrects QR codes, though there's zero reason to do it](https://web.archive.org/web/20220206223236/https://www.androidpolice.com/google-camera-randomly-changes-some-qr-code-urls-on-android-12/). - [2022-02 Google Drive will flag a file containing a line with the number "1" as a copyright infringement](https://web.archive.org/web/20220207202241/https://twitter.com/emilyldolson/status/1485434187968614411). - [2022-02 Google can enable activity tracking for users who intentionally turned it off](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30171800). - [2022-02 Google Tag Manager is the new way that Google can gather and propagate user data](https://web.archive.org/web/20220221151020/https://chromium.woolyss.com/f/HTML-Google-Tag-Manager-the-new-anti-adblock-weapon.html). - [2022-04 Google took millions of orders through its app instead of sending them to the restaurant's website](https://web.archive.org/web/20220412091411/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/google-hijacked-millions-of-customers-and-orders-from-restaurants-lawsuit-says/). - [2022-06 Google turns on tracking for Google Workspace users that was originally turned off](https://web.archive.org/web/20220602154029/https://tutanota.com/blog/posts/google-turns-on-activity-tracking-even-if-turned-off/). - [2022-08 Chrome lets websites write to users' clipboard without their permission](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32614037). - [2023-05 Google uses dark patterns to steer users to completely relying on its Nest smart home ecosystem](https://web.archive.org/web/20230506212318/https://www.androidauthority.com/google-smart-home-3319869/). - [2022-09 Anyone who uses a Google AdSense before they're 18 will be blocked from using it for life](https://web.archive.org/web/20220930182428/https://support.google.com/adsense/thread/178197751/adsense-account?hl=en). - [2023-04 Google has been deprecating JPEG-XL format in lieu of its patented AVIF format](https://web.archive.org/web/20230413065509/https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/googles-decision-to-deprecate-jpeg-xl-emphasizes-the-need-for-browser-choice-and-free-formats). - [2023-05 YouTube runs UX tests for blocking users' videos unless they disable their ad blocker](https://web.archive.org/web/20230510194610/https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/youtube-tests-blocking-videos-unless-you-disable-ad-blockers/). - [2023-07 Google is implementing a Web Integrity Framework in Chrome that will test whether a device is legitimate by Google's standards](https://web.archive.org/web/20230726025123/https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/07/googles-web-integrity-api-sounds-like-drm-for-the-web/). - [2023-09 Google Chrome's "Privacy Sandbox" sends a "topics" list to advertisers](https://web.archive.org/web/20231002000048/https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/googles-widely-opposed-ad-platform-the-privacy-sandbox-launches-in-chrome/). - [2023-10 Against its claims, Google's PlayProtect removed the sideloaded KDE Connect software because it wasn't installed through the Google Play Store](https://web.archive.org/web/20231014122546/https://discuss.kde.org/t/f-droid-version-of-kdeconnect-uninstalled-by-playprotect/5992). - [2023-10 Google is now advocating against internet privacy by supporting a government bill that would require age verification](https://web.archive.org/web/20231101000702/https://www.techdirt.com/2023/10/23/google-decides-to-pull-up-the-ladder-on-the-open-internet-pushes-for-unconstitutional-regulatory-proposals/). Microsoft - [2011-09 Windows' Secure Boot will complicate installing Linux onto computers](https://web.archive.org/web/20171217000053/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2011/09/windows-8-secure-boot-will-complicate-linux-installs/). - [2020-04 Windows 10 S Mode is the most constrained OS made to date](https://web.archive.org/web/20231010130321/https://www.techradar.com/news/windows-10-cloud-release-date-news-and-rumors). - [2021-06 Microsoft is trying to make users only use Microsoft online accounts instead of simply offline accounts](https://web.archive.org/web/20210625140335/https://www.extremetech.com/computing/324134-i-will-never-use-a-microsoft-account-to-log-into-my-own-pc). - [2021-06 Windows 11 is now requiring computers to use TPM chips](https://web.archive.org/web/20210625171214/https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/25/22550376/microsoft-windows-11-tpm-chips-requirement-security). - [2021-10 Microsoft has been force-opening some of its links in Microsoft Edge instead of the native browser](https://web.archive.org/web/20211004142843/https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/anti-competitive-browser-edges.html), and [shut down Firefox's workaround for it](https://web.archive.org/web/20211215162521/https://www.howtogeek.com/774542/windows-11-officially-shuts-down-firefoxs-default-browser-workaround/), and [changed all default browser settings to Edge in a Windows 11 update](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30055222). - [2022-03 Microsoft is connected to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes](https://web.archive.org/web/20220612122304/https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/25/22995144/microsoft-foreign-corrupt-practices-bribery-whistleblower-contracting). - [2022-05 DuckDuckGo's contract requires that it permit Microsoft to keep tracking their searches](https://web.archive.org/web/20220531200554/https://twitter.com/shivan_kaul/status/1528879590772338689). - [2022-06 Windows 11's File Explorer is getting tested to show ads](https://web.archive.org/web/20220604202515/https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-is-testing-ads-in-the-windows-11-file-explorer/). - [2022-07 LinkedIn is automatically importing job postings from other sites into company profiles](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32296952). - [2022-09 Microsoft Edge automatically connects to a VPN nearby your location without users' implicit permission](https://web.archive.org/web/20220929113557/https://adguard-vpn.com/en/blog/vpn-built-browser-microsoft.html). - [2022-12 Most new features of Windows 11 are more dark patterns](https://web.archive.org/web/20221211145807/https://www.neowin.net/news/here-are-5-not-so-great-features-coming-soon-to-windows-11/). - [2022-12 GitHub's updated privacy policy has very concerning wording regarding how they acquire and use information they gather](https://web.archive.org/web/20221215223719/https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/privacy-policies/github-privacy-statement). - [2023-02 Microsoft is inserting ads into Chrome's website to keep people with Microsoft Edge](https://web.archive.org/web/20230221202808/https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-is-now-injecting-full-size-ads-on-chrome-website-to-make-you-stay-on-edge/). - [2023-03 There are many default dark patterns to Microsoft Edge](https://web.archive.org/web/20230318102826/https://thomask.sdf.org/blog/2023/03/18/the-dark-defaults-of-microsoft-edge.html). - [2023-03 Microsoft Windows shows distracting tabloid news right on its desktop](https://web.archive.org/web/20230326135617/https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-keeps-feeding-tabloid-news). - [2023-04 The public support forum disappeared from SwiftKey right after Microsoft bought it](https://web.archive.org/web/20230417053155/https://mastodon.social/@mcc/110209163620520535). - [2023-05 Microsoft is forcing Outlook and Teams to open links in the Microsoft Edge browser](https://web.archive.org/web/20230503094745/https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/3/23709297/microsoft-edge-force-outlook-teams-web-links-open). - [2023-07 Microsoft's Enhanced Phishing Protection feature will detect when people enter credentials into software not approved by Microsoft](https://web.archive.org/web/20230724233350/https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-enhances-windows-11-phishing-protection-with-new-features/). - [2023-08 Windows opens system components with the default browser (instead of Microsoft Edge), but only in Europe to comply with their laws](https://web.archive.org/web/20230825171529/https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2023/08/25/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-23531-dev-channel/). - [2023-08 Windows is using malware-like popups to get people to abandon Google Chrome and move to Microsoft Edge](https://web.archive.org/web/20230830100658/https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/30/23851902/microsoft-bing-popups-windows-11-malware). - [2023-09 Despite legislation, Microsoft is still forcing Edge onto its Windows 11 users](https://web.archive.org/web/20230910224010/https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/windows-system-components-default-edge.html). - [2023-11 Mail for Windows is being swapped for Outlook via dark pattern, which is sending all email access data directly to Microsoft's servers](https://web.archive.org/web/20231111185925/https://www-heise-de.translate.goog/news/Microsoft-krallt-sich-Zugangsdaten-Achtung-vorm-neuen-Outlook-9357691.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de). Twitter/X - [2022-03 Sorting tweets by chronological order is now more difficult](https://web.archive.org/web/20220310213820/https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/10/22971307/twitter-home-timeline-algorithmic-reverse-chronological-feed). - [2022-06 Twitter never deletes its content, but instead hides it with JavaScript](https://web.archive.org/web/20220608183159/https://www.kevinmarks.com/twittereditsyou.html). - [2022-12 Twitter instituted a policy to cancel other social media platforms on its platform](https://web.archive.org/web/20221218173806/https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/social-platforms-policy). - [2022-12 Twitter heavily moderated the COVID-19 debate by suppressing information](https://web.archive.org/web/20221226161234/https://www.thefp.com/p/how-twitter-rigged-the-covid-debate). - [2023-06 Viewing tweets now requires a Twitter account](https://web.archive.org/web/20230702023742/https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-now-needs-users-sign-view-tweets-2023-06-30/). - [2023-08 t.co adds a 5-second delay to specific web domains it clearly doesn't like](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37130060). Other - [2013-12 Wikipedia systematically deletes articles from an unfair bias](https://web.archive.org/web/20170622215947/https://www.dailydot.com/irl/deletionpedia-wikipedia-deleted-articles/). Deletionpedia was tracking it, but [somehow disappeared quietly as of February 2023](https://web.archive.org/web/20230213235303/https://deletionpedia.org/en/Main_Page). - [2018-11 Esri literally owns the entire geospatial software market and can do whatever it wants](https://web.archive.org/web/20181126174823/https://blog.cleverelephant.ca/2018/11/esri-dominates.html). - [2021-12 TikTok's streaming software is an illegally licensed fork of the open-source OBS software](https://web.archive.org/web/20211216150944/https://twitter.com/Naaackers/status/1471494415306788870). - [2022-01 Starbucks and TrustArc add fake delays to users who don't opt in to tracking cookies](https://web.archive.org/web/20220119130228/https://twitter.com/pixelscript/status/1436664488913215490). - [2022-02 Adobe tricks people into 12-month contracts for Creative Cloud](https://web.archive.org/web/20220205100517/https://twitter.com/darkpatterns/status/1489901640777973768). - [2022-02 Samsung has a terrible warranty policy](https://archive.is/20220308062637/https://lehtimaeki.medium.com/why-i-will-never-by-another-samsung-device-2237a40002a6). - [2022-05 Visa's marketing opt-out service has been down for a while, in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act](https://web.archive.org/web/20220504164000/https://usa.visa.com/legal/global-privacy-notice/visa-advertising-solutions-notice.html). - [2022-06 DuckDuckGo is down-ranking sites associated with "Russian disinformation"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220615022142/https://twitter.com/yegg/status/1501716484761997318). - [2022-06 Vizio ads are now showing banner ads over live TV](https://web.archive.org/web/20220614053744/https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1648829114). - [2022-12 LastPass set the delete account div window to display:none (thereby making it impossible to delete the account)](https://web.archive.org/web/20221224223032/https://infosec.exchange/@chiesennegs/109570145849933257). - [2023-01 Airbnb removes negative reviews without notification](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34219422). - [2023-03 Experian makes it very difficult for consumers to work with it](https://web.archive.org/web/20230313211518/https://blog.benton.io/post/711712394255138816/experian-is-a-pile-of-dark-pattern-garbage). - [2023-06 Avast acquired the independent "I don't care about cookies" extension](https://web.archive.org/web/20230607202731/https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/i-dont-care-about-cookies/reviews/?score=1). - [2023-06 Yelp reviews can be severely distorted](https://archive.is/20230614165439/https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/yel-review-fraud-kay-dean-18150617.php). - [2023-06 Stack Exchange is making data dumps harder to access](https://web.archive.org/web/20230615083035/https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/389922/june-2023-data-dump-is-missing/390023). - [2023-07 Tesla created a secret team to redirect complaints about the vehicles' driving range](https://web.archive.org/web/20230727104424/https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/tesla-batteries-range/). - [2023-08 HP has been putting a Wi-Fi sticker over their USB ports to incentivize users to *not* use the Wi-Fi](https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/4/23820710/pay-no-attention-to-the-usb-port-behind-the-no-usb-sticker). - [2023-09 Unity has silently deleted the GitHub repository that tracks changes to its terms of service](https://web.archive.org/web/20230914081708/https://old.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/16hnibp/unity_silently_removed_their_github_repo_to_track/). - [2023-11 Chamberlain Group is removing MyQ support from their garage doors, meaning the open-source Home Assistant won't work with their products](https://web.archive.org/web/20231109014546/https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2023/11/06/removal-of-myq-integration/). ## Intellectual property abuse Large organizations will also often try to draw more money out of people and abuse or misuse [intellectual property](legal-ip.md) rights beyond any [just](morality-justice.md) or sensible measure: Government - USA - [2021-09 The FBI has made completely false allegations about safe deposit box holders to take their assets](https://web.archive.org/web/20210919234653/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-19/fbi-seizure-cash-beverly-hills-vault-spawns-epic-court-battle), [they haven't explained themselves](https://web.archive.org/web/20220726192847/https://reason.com/2022/07/26/what-is-the-fbi-hiding-about-its-raid-on-innocent-americans-safe-deposit-boxes/), and [this is a general issue with civil forfeiture](https://web.archive.org/web/20210901171806/https://ij.org/press-release/highway-robbery-in-reno-nevada-cops-use-civil-forfeiture-to-steal-a-veterans-life-savings/). Government - Europe - [2015-05 The EU suppressed a 300-page study that indicates that piracy doesn't harm intellectual property sales](https://web.archive.org/web/20170921220620/https://gizmodo.com/the-eu-suppressed-a-300-page-study-that-found-piracy-do-1818629537). - [2023-06 Denmark makes pirating textbooks illegal, but half of students find piracy justifiable because of the cost of the books](https://web.archive.org/web/20230611040340/https://torrentfreak.com/high-prices-make-textbook-piracy-acceptable-to-most-students-230604/). Multiple - [2022-08 Smart TVs are now mostly ad generation machines](https://web.archive.org/web/20220813020752/https://adguard.com/en/blog/smart-tv-ad-blocking.html). - [2022-09 Most online advertising is computers showing ads to other computers, without human involvement](https://web.archive.org/web/20220929152114/https://www.wired.com/story/bots-online-advertising/). - [2022-10 You're not purchasing a copy to own anymore when you "buy" a movie through an online store](https://web.archive.org/web/20221004110604/https://worldofmatthew.com/technology/amazon-itunes-deception/). - [2023-04 Germany ruled that Uberspace is liable for hosting youtube-dl software, which copies YouTube videos](https://torrentfreak.com/youtube-dl-hosting-ban-paves-the-way-to-privatized-censorship-230411/). Facebook/Meta - [2021-07 The media company Damn Interesting lost almost all their Facebook attention once "boosting" was introduced](https://web.archive.org/web/20210712142232/https://www.damninteresting.com/to-h-e-double-hockey-sticks-with-facebook/). - [2022-04 Facebook now mostly displays suggested pages and memes instead of other users' content](https://web.archive.org/web/20220404020334/https://old.reddit.com/r/facebook/comments/tvqddc/fb_feed_is_98_suggested_pages_and_barely_any/). Amazon - [2021-05 Amazon is distorting their prices and punishing sellers for trying to sell their product outside of Amazon](https://web.archive.org/web/20210530130650/https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/amazon-primes-free-shipping-promise). - [2021-05 Amazon is intentionally using sellers' data to boost their sales](https://web.archive.org/web/20210502113606/https://www.politico.eu/article/amazon-seller-data-company-sales/). - [2022-10 Amazon lets scammers flood its top USB drives on its store page with fraudulent storage limits](https://kurtisknodel.com/blog/XaQDp4FqRwea7aw0ylgPog). - [2022-11 Most things on Amazon are now advertisements](https://web.archive.org/web/20230223195657/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2022/amazon-shopping-ads/). - [2023-11 Amazon used a price-adjusting algorithm to pull $1 billion more out of customers than it should have](https://web.archive.org/web/20231103070901/https://www.pcmag.com/news/ftc-amazon-extracted-extra-1-billion-from-users-via-price-raising-algorithm). Apple - [2021-06 Apple is extorting App Store creators to pay 30% of their earnings to the App Store](https://web.archive.org/web/20210609190342/https://twitter.com/jasminericegirl/status/1402691047940100100). - [2022-10 Apple is quietly converting their TV product to work closely with more ad agencies](https://web.archive.org/web/20221012041525/https://digiday.com/media/apple-is-quietly-pushing-a-tv-ad-product-with-media-agencies/). They're also [converting their model to respect tracking, but also host more ads](https://web.archive.org/web/20221003120623/https://adguard.com/en/blog/apple-tracking-ads-business.html). - [2022-12 Since Apple can't take a commission on Coinbase Wallet, Apple Pay won't accept cryptocurrencies](https://web.archive.org/web/20221201170209/https://twitter.com/coinbasewallet/status/1598354819735031809). Google/Alphabet - [2022-01 Google forced users to abandon a perfectly fine Pixel 3 phone after only 3 years](https://web.archive.org/web/20220125162326/https://www.vice.com/en/article/dypxpx/google-is-forcing-me-to-dump-a-perfectly-good-phone). - [2022-02 Google Maps now forces uses to enable Wi-Fi access to enable navigation](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30167865). - [2022-09 Google has added ads to both its search page and Chrome's new tab page](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33032470). Netflix - [2021-04 A former Netflix executive was convicted of taking bribes from contractors](https://web.archive.org/web/20210430235030/https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/former-netflix-executive-convicted-receiving-bribes-and-kickbacks-companies-contracting). - [2023-02 Netflix will require users to log into their Wi-Fi network at least once every 31 days](https://web.archive.org/web/20230211173838/https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/01/netflix-password-sharing-crackdown-faq-updates.html). PayPal - [2022-01 A European company had 15k EU frozen in PayPal, and they've engaged in legal attrition to exhaust the company's resources](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29935515). - [2022-09 PayPal froze and seized $1.3 million from a hardware developer](https://web.archive.org/web/20230612101318/https://twitter.com/flipper_zero/status/1567194641610465281). - [2022-11 PayPal charges a fee for keeping money in their account but not using it](https://archive.is/QJSx0). Other - [2022-02 Samsung TVs load their screen with ads and unwanted content](https://web.archive.org/web/20220408151817/https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/home-entertainment/i-spent-3000-on-a-samsung-smart-tv-and-all-i-got-were-ads-and-unwanted-content/). - [2022-06 Shopify tries to extort money out of people by burying arcane violations in their terms of service](https://web.archive.org/web/20220629062942/https://twitter.com/mattzollerseitz/status/1541994356521013248). - [2022-08 Walmart lets scammers sell 30 TB hard drives that actually have a few SD cards inside it and dramatically less space](https://web.archive.org/web/20220830130200/https://www.vice.com/en/article/akek8e/walmart-30tb-ssd-hard-drive-scam-sd-cards). - [2022-08 GoDaddy charged this person €150 for failing to respond to an email within 2 hours after his payment was canceled](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32470017). - [2022-12 HP printers intentionally make third-party ink cartridges difficult or impossible to use](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33936862). - [2022-12 Stripe's pricing model appears to be simple, but it uses 20 other products that make the pricing system arcane and likely pricier than it may appear](https://web.archive.org/web/20221205105045/https://github.com/getlago/lago/wiki/Stripe%27s-real-pricing:-a-primer). - [2023-01 Twilio tends to perform toll-fraud, then hide behind their terms of service if customers complain](https://archive.is/20230105203837/https://billychasen.medium.com/twilios-toll-fraud-problem-28b3aef39243). ## Machine learning misuse - [2023-05 Some wrestlers in India were detained by Delhi police, but their photos were adapted by AI to appear like they were smiling](https://web.archive.org/web/20230529115146/https://www.altnews.in/wrestlers-detained-in-delhi-ai-image-of-smiling-vinesh-sangeeta-phogat-viral/).