{"id":10319,"date":"2019-12-22T12:00:06","date_gmt":"2019-12-22T17:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=10319"},"modified":"2019-12-23T10:15:36","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T15:15:36","slug":"apple-discrimination-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2019\/12\/22\/apple-discrimination-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple\u2019s Response, or Lack Thereof, to Discrimination Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year Apple launched its credit card, Apple Card, in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard. The card application was made available to all United States residents on Aug. 6, 2019, and just three months later is being investigated for discrimination.<\/p>\n

\"Tweet<\/a>
A tweet from David Hansson about the incident.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The case started after a tweet from software engineer David Hansson went viral. Thursday, Nov. 7, Hansson tweeted that both he and his wife completed the credit application with the same tax and bank account information but he was offered 20 times more credit than his wife.<\/p>\n

Hansson\u2019s thread went on to explain he reached out to Apple support and was told the algorithm could not be biased, however; Hansson\u2019s wife was granted more credit opportunity after the situation was brought to Apple\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

Immediately after Hansson\u2019s tweet, other users commented saying they had the same experience. Apple\u2019s twitter accounts did not have any public interaction with users who responded to Hansson\u2019s tweet.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Nov. 9, the New York Department of Financial Services reported they would be launching an investigation against the card and released a statement stating, \u201cany algorithm that intentionally or not results in discriminatory treatment of women or any other protected class violates New York law.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, Nov. 11, four days after Hasson\u2019s popular tweet was posted, Goldman Sachs released a statement on Twitter stating, \u201cWe have not and never will make decisions based on factors like gender.\u201d The post continued, \u201cWe do not know your gender or marital status during the Apple Card application process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also on Nov. 11, Hansson\u2019s wife Jamie Hansson took to the internet with a blog<\/a> post explaining her stance on the situation. Jamie Hansson explains she values privacy and transparency above all else, which is why she chose the Apple Card to begin with. She acknowledges Apple\u2019s efforts to increase her credit limit but states that she feels privileged in this fight because she is a \u201crich white woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Nov. 12 The Verge published the article \u201cApple owns every mistake Goldman Sachs makes with this card.\u201d<\/a> The article points out that on the Apple Card website<\/a> the top of the page reads, \u201cCreated by Apple, not a bank,\u201d yet the Apple support page regarding card policies behind approvals puts all the weight on Goldman Sachs\u2019 shoulders.<\/p>\n

Amid these allegations, Apple has remained silent. All reporters have been redirected to Goldman Sachs representatives in the heat of controversy. Neither Apple or Goldman Sachs have overtly stated that any discrimination has occurred.<\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s response to this crisis has been clear: deny, deny, deny. Is this the right tactic for the situation? Users signed up for a credit card supposedly \u201ccreated by Apple\u201d and now they\u2019re being told that it\u2019s actually created by a bank. Apple\u2019s commitment to convenience, being transparent and protecting privacy are all at risk, and the public is losing its faith in the brand.<\/p>\n

\n

Rachel Bednarz is a sophomore at Central Michigan University studying integrative public relations and Spanish. She\u2019s the director of member services for CMU\u2019s Chapter of PRSSA, writes for the Chapter blog<\/a> and the on-campus magazine<\/a>. Connect with her on Linkedin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year Apple launched its credit card, Apple Card, in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard. The card application was made available to all United States residents on Aug. 6, 2019, and just three months later is being investigated for discrimination. The case started after a tweet from software engineer David Hansson went viral. Thursday, Nov. 7, Hansson tweeted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":10320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2898],"tags":[2327,3120,60,40,2224],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10321,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10319\/revisions\/10321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}