"Steve Jobs Tortures Chinese slaves from beyond the grave."
While I'm sure Sony's contract has lots of details in it, there is probably no "don't trick university students" clause and Foxconn saw an opportunity to do something underhanded and increase profits.
There's no way someone enters into a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract for high end electronics without ever visiting the factory and knowing what goes on there. They know damn well what kind of conditions exist and chose to do business with the supplier anyway. If they didn't know then they're too stupid to have their job.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6525582
You can't be everywhere all the time and you have to actively do audits to make sure you're satisfied with your factory conditions.....
I awarded a Chinese factory with a low five figures contract and I know exactly how everything is processed and made. For billions of dollars or purchase orders, I am pretty sure you can expect at least the same level of service.