<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>jolux</author><text>Corporations are not “de facto” governments just because they’re large and profitable. They may have governance structure within themselves, but they don’t have a monopoly on the use of force anywhere, they don’t tax, and they’re not sovereign. Moreover, what de jure government do they functionally supersede in the places where they’re the de facto government? This is a tortured argument.</text><parent_chain><item><author>spacemanmatt</author><text>&amp;gt; Apple is not a government&lt;p&gt;It is a de facto government with assets &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; income that dwarf most U.S. states, as well as most foreign countries and many multinational companies.&lt;p&gt;Calling their legal compliance obedient is a cruel disservice to the facts of their constant political maneuvering.</text></item><item><author>ismaildonmez</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s easy to pick on Apple, when you don&amp;#x27;t know the history of these political issues. Not picking on Red Hat, but because I know this from the first hand it was 18 years ago that they removed the Taiwanese flag from KDE3 control center: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;redhat-list.redhat.narkive.com&amp;#x2F;b3p8HQaa&amp;#x2F;bug-70235&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;redhat-list.redhat.narkive.com&amp;#x2F;b3p8HQaa&amp;#x2F;bug-70235&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apple is not a government, it&amp;#x27;s a business. They&amp;#x27;ll either have to obey the local laws or they&amp;#x27;ll lose business.&lt;p&gt;While we are here, checkout how Google Maps handles these issues: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;technology&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;14&amp;#x2F;google-maps-political-borders&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;technology&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;14&amp;#x2F;google-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Apple&apos;s Cooperation with Authoritarian Governments</title><url>https://www.jessesquires.com/blog/2021/03/30/apple-cooperation-with-authoritarian-governments/</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>tamasnet</author><text>&amp;gt; It is a de facto government&lt;p&gt;Say you&amp;#x27;re a US citizen. You can choose not to buy an Apple product. You cannot chose to not pay your taxes.&lt;p&gt;This is just one of many distinctions between a government and a corporation.</text><parent_chain><item><author>spacemanmatt</author><text>&amp;gt; Apple is not a government&lt;p&gt;It is a de facto government with assets &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; income that dwarf most U.S. states, as well as most foreign countries and many multinational companies.&lt;p&gt;Calling their legal compliance obedient is a cruel disservice to the facts of their constant political maneuvering.</text></item><item><author>ismaildonmez</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s easy to pick on Apple, when you don&amp;#x27;t know the history of these political issues. Not picking on Red Hat, but because I know this from the first hand it was 18 years ago that they removed the Taiwanese flag from KDE3 control center: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;redhat-list.redhat.narkive.com&amp;#x2F;b3p8HQaa&amp;#x2F;bug-70235&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;redhat-list.redhat.narkive.com&amp;#x2F;b3p8HQaa&amp;#x2F;bug-70235&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apple is not a government, it&amp;#x27;s a business. They&amp;#x27;ll either have to obey the local laws or they&amp;#x27;ll lose business.&lt;p&gt;While we are here, checkout how Google Maps handles these issues: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;technology&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;14&amp;#x2F;google-maps-political-borders&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;technology&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;02&amp;#x2F;14&amp;#x2F;google-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Apple&apos;s Cooperation with Authoritarian Governments</title><url>https://www.jessesquires.com/blog/2021/03/30/apple-cooperation-with-authoritarian-governments/</url></story>