Jon Stewart hosted The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) was chair Lina Khan on her weekly Daily Show segment yesterday, but Stewart’s own revelations were just as interesting as Khan’s. During the sit-down, Stewart admitted that Apple asked him not to host Khan on the podcast, which was his sequel. The problem with Jon Stewart Apple TV+ show at that time.
“I wanted to see you on the podcast and Apple asked us not to,” Stewart told Khan. “They literally said, ‘Please don’t talk to him.'”
In fact, the whole episode had a “things Apple will let us do” theme. Before the Khan interview, Stewart did something segment on artificial intelligence, he called it “the false promise of AI”, effectively rejecting the altruistic claims of AI leaders and arguing that it is strictly intended to replace human workers.
“They wouldn’t even let us do that stupid thing we did in the first AI move,” he said. “What insensitivity is this? Why are they so afraid to have these conversations in public?”
“I think it shows the danger of what happens when you have so much power and so much decision-making in a small number of companies,” Khan replied.
The problem with Jon Stewart was was suddenly cancelled ahead of its third season after clashes over potential AI and Chinese segments. This prompted US lawmakers to do so Ask Apple a questionwants to know if the decision is related to possible criticism of China.
While the bipartisan committee said Apple has the right to stream content it wants, “the coercive tactics of a foreign power should not directly or indirectly influence those decisions.” (Apple’s response, if any, has yet to be revealed.)
Stewart did not say that the problems with artificial intelligence and the Khan interview led to the cancellation of his show, but they indicate that Apple has asserted editorial influence on matters directly related to it.
Elsewhere in the segment, Khan discussed the FTC’s lawsuit against Amazon, stating that the FTC claims the company has a monopoly maintained through illegal practices (excessive seller fees, dark advertising). They also discuss the FTC’s lawsuit against Facebook, AI-powered collusion of tech companies, corporate consolidation, excessive drug prices, and more.
