A coalition of national advocacy groups have issued letters calling on leading tech giants to refuse to participate in any effort to build Donald Trump’s Muslim registry, reports Colorlines.
“This is not about politics,” reads the core of the letters, which were addressed to executives at Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, IBM, Booz Allen Hamilton, CGI, and SRA International.
“Government targeting of individuals based on religion and ethnicity violates the Constitution and our core values as a country. It also threatens millions of people.”
“We believe it is a great sign of corporate responsibility and common decency for corporations to ensure their resources are not used to support bigotry and discrimination. An important first step would be for [company] to publicly refuse to help build a Muslim registry.”
At the time of publishing, Colorlines reported that only Twitter had responded to the advocacy groups — which include CREDO, Muslim Advocates, Color of Change, Courage Campaign, Democracy for America, #AllOfUs, Amnesty International USA, Asian Law Caucus, Bend the Arc Jewish Action, Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Media Justice, Daily Kos, Demand Progress, Desis Rising Up and Moving, Faithful America, Fight for the Future, Free Press, Mijente, MPower Change, Presente, Sum of Us, and Ultraviolet — “with a firm no”:
Microsoft said it wouldn’t “talk about hypotheticals at this point,” and consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton declined to comment. No other company responded to the public inquiry.
Additional pressure from the advocacy groups subsequently forced Facebook to issue a response, according to Colorlines:
“No one has asked us to build a Muslim registry, and of course we would not do so.”
“CREDO applauds Facebook’s statement affirming that the company will not help Trump build a Muslim registry if asked to do so,” CREDO Senior Campaign Manager Heidi Hess said in response to the statement.
“If Trump follows through on his campaign promise to build a Muslim registry, leading tech companies may be our last line of defense against Trump’s bigotry and discrimination.”
“Other tech giants like Google and Microsoft must take a moral stand now and publicly announce that they will not play any role in Trump’s chilling efforts to create a Muslim registry.”
In a separate effort from the letter, more than 200 tech company employees have also pledged to refuse to help facilitate mass deportations or the creation of a Muslim registry.
