Vladimir Lenin is said to have once uttered: “When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will vie with each other for the rope contract.”
Today U.S. companies appear intent on proving his prediction correct.
After all, China’s communist government currently seems unusually adept at pulling the strings of U.S. corporate leaders.
What China wants, U.S. companies give, over and over and over again.
So much so, we started a list at our sister site, NewsLists.co, chronicling the many times U.S. companies happily kowtowed to Chinese demands.
A few standout examples:
When China complained to Marriott about one of their employees “liked” a post from a Tibet independence group, Marriott dutifully fired the staffer.
When China blew up at the NBA over the Houston Rockets owner tweeting his support for Hong Kong protesters, Nike obediently removed all of their Rockets-related products from their Chinese web store.
Sadly, that’s just a small sample. Below, find a list of 32 times U.S. companies have caved to Chinese demands. If we’re missing any, please help keep our list updated.
| # | Summary | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Producers behind Red Dawn remake swapped Chinese flags and insignia for North Korean ones for fear of losing out on billion-dollar box office | 11/23/2012 | Daily Mail |
| 2 | ‘Star Wars’ China Poster Sparks Controversy After Shrinking John Boyega’s Character | 12/04/2015 | Variety |
| 3 | Cisco’s Latest Attempt to Dodge Responsibility for Facilitating Human Rights Abuses: Export Rules | 04/18/2016 | Electronic Frontier Foundation |
| 4 | Tibet Supporters Protest Marvel's 'Doctor Strange' over Changed Character | 11/03/2016 | NBC News |
| 5 | Marriott sacks employee who ‘liked’ Twitter post from Tibet independence group | 01/13/2018 | South China Morning Post |
| 6 | How China Infiltrated U.S. Classrooms | 01/16/2018 | Politico |
| 7 | Gap apologizes for China T-shirt that didn't include Taiwan | 05/15/2018 | CNN |
| 8 | Apple’s iCloud partner in China will store user data on servers of state-run telecom | 07/18/2018 | The Verge |
| 9 | US airlines just gave into China's 'Orwellian' demands over Taiwan — here's every company that's done the same | 07/25/2018 | Business Insider |
| 10 | US universities self-censor in fear of offending China | 09/04/2018 | The New Republic |
| 11 | Tom Cruise’s leather jacket in the ‘Top Gun’ sequel shows just how crucial China is as a movie market | 07/19/2019 | CNBC |
| 12 | Calvin Klein, Coach, Fresh, among other companies apologizing over Hong Kong tensions | 08/16/2019 | What's on Weibo |
| 13 | Taiwan hotel cuts ties with Marriott in protest at caving in to Beijing in naming row | 08/16/2019 | South China Morning Post |
| 14 | The stakes are too high for Apple to spin the iPhone exploits | 09/06/2019 | The Verge |
| 15 | Revealed: how TikTok censors videos that do not please Beijing | 09/25/2019 | The Guardian |
| 16 | Disney officially blocked Winnie the Pooh in HONG KONG | 10/04/2019 | |
| 17 | Apple rejects Hong Kong protest map from App Store, relents under pressure | 10/06/2019 | Digital Trends |
| 18 | Apple bows to China by censoring Taiwan flag emoji | 10/07/2019 | Quartz |
| 19 | Vans shoes face boycott calls after company removes design referring to Hong Kong protests | 10/07/2019 | The Hill |
| 20 | NBA's reaction to Morey tweet differs in English, Chinese | 10/07/2019 | Associated Press |
| 21 | Brooklyn Nets owner, Alibaba co-founder Tsai decries Houston Rockets GM's Hong Kong tweet | 10/07/2019 | Reuters |
| 22 | Nike Removes All Houston Rockets Related Products From Their China Webstore | 10/08/2019 | Fadeaway World |
| 23 | Tiffany removes advert over Hong Kong controversy | 10/08/2019 | Yahoo! |
| 24 | Hearthstone Pro Banned By Blizzard After Calling For Hong Kong Liberation During Stream | 10/08/2019 | IGN |
| 25 | Internal Memo: ESPN Forbids Discussion Of Chinese Politics When Discussing Daryl Morey's Tweet About Chinese Politics | 10/08/2019 | Deadspin |
| 26 | Apple removes ‘Quartz’ news app from Chinese App Store at request of the government | 10/09/2019 | 9to5 |
| 27 | Sixers fan supporting Hong Kong ejected from preseason game amid NBA-China controversy | 10/09/2019 | ABC News Philadelphia |
| 28 | Washington Wizards Security Confiscate "Free Hong Kong" Sign from Fans | 10/09/2019 | |
| 29 | ESPN acknowledges China's claims to South China Sea live on SportsCenter with graphic | 10/10/2019 | |
| 30 | Apple Safari browser sends some user IP addresses to Chinese conglomerate Tencent by default | 10/10/2019 | Reclaim the Net |
| 31 | Apple Told Some Apple TV+ Show Developers Not To Anger China | 10/11/2019 | BuzzFeed News |
| 32 | Exclusive: CEO of world’s largest e-sports firm ESL warns staff not to discuss Hong Kong protests | 10/12/2019 | Hong Kong Free Press |
| 33 | Report: Apple told Apple TV+ creators to avoid portraying China ‘in a poor light’ | 10/12/2019 | 9to5 |
| 34 | In 2017 Apple removed virtual private networks (VPNs) from its App Store because they allowed Internet users to evade government censorship | 10/14/2019 | NLPC |
| 35 | South East Asia angered after Dreamworks animated film "Abominable" includes scene depicting China with "nine-dash line" | 10/16/2019 | Reuters |
| 36 | Twitter Says Beijing’s Coronavirus Lies Are Just Fine | 03/23/2020 | Daily Beast |
| 37 | YouTube Censors Criticism of China | 05/26/2020 | Washington Free Beacon |
| 38 | Zoom closes account of U.S. based activist after Tiananmen event | 06/10/2020 | Axios |
| 39 | YouTube strips rising media company Epoch Times of ability to monetize video content | 01/26/2021 | Just the News |
| 40 | Apple helps China conduct surveillance on its citizens, suppress dissent, and promote Chinese propaganda | 05/17/2021 | The New York Times |
| 41 | Google & YouTube are removing videos and channels of Uyghurs & family members of people who have been disappeared in Xinjiang | 07/01/2021 | Reuters |
| 42 | Twitter blocks account of foreign policy expert that mocked Xi Jinping | 07/07/2021 | HotAir |
| 43 | LinkedIn blocks U.S. journalists' profiles in China | 09/30/2021 | Axios |
| 44 | Apple took down a Quran app and a Bible app in China on the request of Chinese officials | 10/15/2021 | Business Insider |
| 45 | Hollywood ‘removes black actress’ from Dune poster in China | 10/26/2021 | The Times UK |
| 46 | ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ Gay Dialogue Removed in China, Warner Bros. Says ‘Spirit of the Film Remains’ | 04/12/2022 | Variety |
| 47 | Disney removes ‘Simpsons’ episode with China ‘forced labor’ reference from Hong Kong | 02/07/2023 | NBC News |
| 48 | Disney pulls "Simpsons" episode airing in Hong Kong over "forced labor" reference, report says | 02/07/2023 | CBS News |