On Friday, customers around the world flocked to Apple Stores locations to buy the iPhone 16 on its launch day. But customers in over a dozen cities were met by protests organized by current and former Apple employees.
The protesters—holding signs and banners saying that Apple is “profiting from genocide”—demanded that Apple stop sourcing its cobalt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where mines are notorious for dangerous conditions, low wages, frequent use of child labor, and human rights violations.
Apple has said it does not source minerals from mines in which these conditions take place, though it has said that there are “challenges” in tracking its mineral supply chains. In 2022, this tracking led the company to remove 12 suppliers. Congo’s government recently questioned the company in relation to potential “blood minerals” in its supply chain.
The…
