Apple shrugs off pressure from gun control groups to remove NRA channel

Apple CEO Tim Cook stood by his company’s decision to keep the National Rifle Association’s app available to the public in their App Store.

Speaking with Recode’s Kara Swisher and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes last week, Cook said, “We don’t want to take a view that throttles the public discourse on something,” going on to argue that “Public discourse is an important part of democracy.”

While admitting he wasn’t a fan of the NRA’s “tactics or positions” Cook said it was important for the public to hear their point of view.

In recent months, the group’s media arm, NRA TV, has come under fire from gun control organizations who have been applying public pressure to a host of streaming services in an effort to curb the availability of the group’s message.

“NRA TV is home to the NRA’s most dangerous and violence-inciting propaganda,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “It’s time for tech leaders to acknowledge their role in helping the NRA spread this dangerous content and cut it out.”

Watts’ group, part of the umbrella of organizations supported by former New York Mayor Micheal Bloomberg, launched their “DumpNRATV” campaign a week after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, mirroring a Change.org petition urging Amazon to drop the gun right’s group from their streaming service.

Besides, Apple, Roku has rejected the call to remove NRA TV from their service, saying, “We do not curate or censor based on viewpoint.”

The post Apple shrugs off pressure from gun control groups to remove NRA channel appeared first on Guns.com.