Twitter’s Founder, Facebook Pledge Support For Apple As It Fights Court Order To Unlock iPhone

Twitter’s founder and Facebook have joined a growing chorus of voices from the tech community supporting Apple as it opposes a court order to help the FBI break into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.

Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted “We stand with @tim_cook and Apple (and thank him for his leadership)!”

TechCrunch has contacted Twitter to ask if Dorsey’s tweet represents the company or his personal opinion.

Facebook issued this statement to the press:

“We condemn terrorism and have total solidarity with victims of terror. Those who seek to praise, promote, or plan terrorist acts have no place on our services. We also appreciate the difficult and essential work of law enforcement to keep people safe. When we receive lawful requests from these authorities we comply. However, we will continue to fight aggressively against requirements for companies to weaken the security of their systems. These demands would create a chilling precedent and obstruct companies’ efforts to secure their products.”

Other tech executives who have publicly backed Apple since Tim Cook posted a letter to customers earlier this week explaining why the company will oppose the court order. Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted that forcing companies to hack into customer devices and data “could be a troubling precedent,” while WhatsApp leader Jan Koum said in a Facebook post (WhatsApp is owned by Facebook) that “We must not allow this dangerous precedent to be set. Today our freedom and our liberty is at stake.”

The American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation have also issued formal statements of support for Apple’s stance.

Apple has until February 26 to respond to the court order, which calls for it to create a special version of iOS that would help unlock an iPhone used by shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.

Apple vs FBI