By: Nathalie Adams
As technology advances, streaming platforms have expanded their reach globally, prompting a critical examination of the delicate balance streaming services must strike between fostering creative expression and tapping into lucrative international markets. The recent cancellation of Apple TV’s “The Problem with Jon Stewart” sparked immense controversy over foreign powers’ creative control of American-made content.
“The Problem with Jon Stewart” is an Emmy-nominated talk show on Apple TV+, featuring former host of “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart. The show focused on hot-button topics ranging from gun control and gender identity to China and artificial intelligence. The show was set to begin filming its third season in December. However, disputes between Stewart and Apple Executives regarding creative control and the portrayal of China on the show led to its sudden cancellation, intensifying discussions on China’s influence over American companies and the entertainment industry.
As one of the largest markets for film and television, China’s influence on the global entertainment industry stretches far beyond its borders. Hollywood and streaming giants are constantly navigating how to create content that does not clash with the values of China’s government, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Additionally, Apple has an ongoing, longstanding relationship with China as an important market and manufacturing hub. In addition to this relationship, CCP has an extensive track record of exerting control and coercing Apple to censor its products to comply with the CCP’s ideologies.
On November 15, 2023, members of the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party published a letter to Apple, alleging that Apple prohibited Jon Stewart from airing content related to China, as it may have raised concerns in the Chinese markets for failing to align with the CCP’s values. In the letter to Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, the committee wrote that if the allegations are accurate, “it potentially speaks to broader concerns about indirect Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence over the creative expression of American artists and companies on CCP-related topics.”
The letter underscored the United States’ foundational First Amendment principles, which value open exchange of ideas through creative expression. However, lawmakers fear that U.S. companies, like Apple, are reliant on China and its economy, therefore giving the CCP immense leverage to force its values on the American people. One of the ways this is done is by requiring Apple and other entertainment industry giants to create content consistent with CCP beliefs. For example, Chinese workers assemble almost every iPhone, iPad, and Mac sold worldwide. Furthermore, Apple’s business is so immense that today no other country can provide the scale, skills, infrastructure, and government assistance Apple receives in China. Since Apple is dependent on China for everything from manufacturing to the sale of goods, the CCP is able to coerce Apple to censor its content, even in the United States.
As articulated in the committee’s letter to Apple, lawmakers believe that the cancellation of “The Problem with Jon Stewart” speaks to a much larger issue of entertainment companies, like Apple, pre-censoring their content to prevent potential retaliation from the CCP. This is frightening on a multitude of levels. First, the CCP’s ability to force the hands of private companies to strip Americans of one of our most protected rights, the First Amendment, exemplifies the ways in which the CCP is asserting control over the United States, outside of more popularly discussed national security concerns. Second, companies censoring media in response to fear of retaliation from the CCP strips creative workers of their ability to speak their minds and censors audiences from potentially valuable content that speaks to important geopolitical challenges of today. While prominent figures like Jon Stewart may find alternative platforms to share their beliefs, the letter emphasizes the risk of aspiring creatives losing their freedom to explore China-related topics all together.
The competition between the United States and the CCP stretches far beyond the battle of military, economic, and technological power. It is about the CCP asserting its values on the American public. Since its inception, the United States has been a nation built on freedom of speech and the ability to share ideas freely without limitation. Companies’ reliance on China, a nation that values censorship, has led to Americans being stripped of their inalienable rights. It is imperative that content creators, artists, writers, studios, and streaming services be able to create content without fear of punishment by the CCP. American technology companies should be encouraged to limit their reliance on China to prevent the CCP’s ability to indirectly control Americans and the exchange of ideas. Industry leaders should explore diversification strategies. However, only through a concerted effort to disentangle from China’s influence can American companies ensure that artistic freedom prevails over external, economic pressures, safeguarding the essence of democratic values in the realm of global entertainment and beyond.
