US legislators asked Apple Inc to explain the abrupt end of the Jon Stewart political television program on its streaming service, according to a letter made public on Wednesday, invoking the concerns that the content linked to China was behind the cancellation.
The New York Times reported last month This Stewart show on Apple’s streaming service ended, the result of creative differences. The newspaper said Stewart told members of its staff that potential subjects linked to China and artificial intelligence were concerned with Apple leaders.
Apple refused to comment on Times.
“While companies have the right to determine which content is suitable for their streaming service, coercive tactics of a foreign power should not directly or indirectly influence these determinations,” said republican and democrats of the restricted commission of the House of Representatives with the Chinese Communist Party in the letter to the letter of Apple, Tim Cook.
The letter asked Apple’s representatives a briefing on his concerns by December 15, 2023. He said he was also expecting to speak with Stewart representatives.
“To reassure the creative community in the light of these reports, we also respectfully ask that Apple publicly committed that the content which could be perceived as criticism of the PCC or the RPC is welcome on Apple TV + and other Apple services,” said the letter, signed by the Panel Republican President, the representative of the Ranking Group Democrat.
The letter was published before a dinner expected Wednesday evening during which the best American business leaders were to dine with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in San Francisco while seeking to court American companies and to counter the recent difficulties of his country to attract foreign investments.
Dinner on the margins of the Economic Cooperation Forum in Asia-Pacific (APEC) would follow a day of talks between XI and Joe Biden, aimed at stabilizing the difficult links between the two biggest economies in the world.
The Chamber Committee has made controls of China on the media an objective of its work.
American legislators have long expressed their concerns about the potential censorship of the Chinese government given the controls of the strict media of the Communist Party in power. The concern is particularly acute for Hollywood films, because some studios have changed or self -centered scripts to appease the Chinese government and access the country market.