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Comment by duxup | Hacker News Reader

Google can push back, US companies can do that, and do do that. That system isn't perfect but I'd rather go with apps from more free countries than those that are not free.

ByteDance has no choice.

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It's unclear to what extent such corporate pushback against the USG is genuine conflict as opposed to theater/PR cover. I don't think it's a safe assumption either way. The incentives to pretend industry has more independence than it does are there, and methods of such deception have been seen before.

I think it is unlikely we have a conspiracy so vast, across a ton of companies that they put up fake legal fights, have fake warrant canary notices ... and nobody ever leaks out that they're all fake.

It doesn't require a vast conspiracy, certainly not something more vast than the kind of conspiracy that Snowden alerted everyone to.

I would guess the truth is somewhere in the middle... That there is genuine pushback but also theatrics to project independence.

>It doesn't require a vast conspiracy

It would if we account for the fact that we haven't seen any reports of fake legal fights / warrant canaries and etc.

>I would guess the truth is somewhere in the middle

I don't understand this phrase, wouldn't that just mean the bigger lie / conspiracy wins every argument? How do you weigh such things reliably?

There doesn't need to be any conspiracy. If it's good for PR reasons to show they are fighting, companies will do it anyway without the need to coordinate.

So they are able to push back?

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