Major technology companies have spoken out and promised to never build a "Muslim registry" for the incoming Donald Trump administration. Key players including Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Uber have shown least interest in the idea of such a project, which could potentially be used to target and track Muslim Americans.
The responses from the major tech giants of the Silicon Valley were reported by BuzzFeed based on Trump's intentions to build a database of Syrian refugees during the US elections campaign. The President-elect hasn't proposed the plan yet, but Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is a member of Trump's transition team, supported the idea of having a Muslim registry similar to his suspended program NSEERS (National Security Entry-Exit Registration System).
Without the support of major tech companies, the task would be a tedious one. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter, and web giants like Google and Microsoft have a massive global database at their disposal. But they have no intention of using it to favour a political agenda.
"In relation to the hypothetical of whether we would ever help build a 'Muslim registry' - we haven't been asked, of course we wouldn't do this and we are glad - from all that we've read - that the proposal doesn't seem to be on the table," a Google spokesperson told BuzzFeed.
"We think people should be treated the same no matter how they worship, what they look like, who they love. We haven't been asked and we would oppose such an effort," said an Apple spokesperson.
While Uber responded with a curt "no" for the same query, Facebook and Microsoft jumped into the bandwagon after declining to comment initially, the report added. Twitter was the first one to back out of any such programme if it existed. The micro-blogging social networking platform was the only company to respond to The Intercept on the same matter last month.
The report comes shortly after the major tech summit at the Trump Tower in Manhattan, which was attended by leaders of the tech world including Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Palantir CEO Alex Karp, Oracle CEO Safra Catz and Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt, among others. Oracle declined to respond to comment on the Muslim registry matter, which comes a day after Catz announced her participation in Trump's transition team.
