Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 03, 2025

Brad Smith, president of Microsoft Corp

Trump adviser asked Microsoft why it wouldn’t spy for the US

An adviser to US President Donald Trump once questioned Microsoft Corp for not spying on its users around the world on behalf of the government, the software giant’s president has revealed, as Washington continues its campaign against China’s Huawei Technologies over national security concerns.

“As an American company, why won’t you agree to help the US government spy on people in other countries?” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer, recounted how he was asked by the adviser on a trip to Washington. That inquiry is highlighted in Smith’s new book, Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age, without naming the person or other details about that visit to the US capital.

Smith wrote that he responded by shifting the question to Trump Hotels, which had opened new properties at the time of the meeting in the Middle East and in Pennsylvania Avenue, near the White House. “Are these hotels going to spy on people from other countries who stay there?” Smith said. “It doesn’t seem like it would be good for the family business.” The Trump adviser nodded in agreement, according to the book.

Tools and Weapons, which was released by UK-based publishers Penguin Press and Hodder & Stoughton on Tuesday, analyses the benefits and risks from advances in technology as well as Microsoft’s position in major issues, from privacy and security to geopolitics.

A Microsoft representative did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment about Smith’s meeting with the Trump adviser.

The revelation about the Trump adviser’s inquiry in Tools and Weapons showed that the US continues to have its own issues with surveillance and cybersecurity, despite Washington’s accusations that products from telecommunications equipment manufacturer Huawei can be used to spy for Beijing. Huawei, caught in the middle of an escalating US-China trade war, has strenuously and repeatedly denied the allegations, saying that it is not a proxy for Beijing’s security apparatus.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, stepped up its campaign against Huawei, the world’s largest telecoms equipment supplier, by adding the company to the US government’s trade blacklist in May. That has restricted the Shenzhen-based company from buying hardware, software and services from American hi-tech firms, including Qualcomm, Google and Microsoft.

On August 19, the US extended a deadline allowing American technology suppliers to sell components to Huawei for another 90 days. Since then, however, the much-anticipated reprieve has provided more confusion than clarity.

Earlier that same month, the Trump administration announced a ban on US federal agencies buying equipment and services
from a group of Chinese hi-tech companies, including Huawei, ZTE Corp and Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, because of national security concerns.

Smith, who joined Microsoft in 1993, described the US trade ban on Huawei as unfair and un-American, according to a report by weekly magazine Bloomberg Businessweek. He said Huawei’s blacklisting should not have been made “without a sound basis in fact, logic and the rule of law”.

In his new book, Smith wrote China is notorious for making domestic market access difficult for foreign hi-tech companies, with services from Google and Facebook blocked in the world’s second largest economy. The Microsoft president, however, also indicated that the US was increasingly building up barriers to entry, as Washington’s concerns over Chinese influence continued to grow.

There is an “increasing possibility that American officials will seek to block the export of a growing number of vital technology products, not just to China but to a growing set of other countries”, wrote Smith, adding that such a move would jeopardise US competitiveness in the global market. “It’s impossible to pursue global leadership if products can’t leave the United States.”

In addition, Smith indicated the challenges from the drastically “different tastes in technology” in China and the US.

When Microsoft introduced social chatbot XiaoIce – pronounced Shao-Ice – in the US in 2016 under the name “Tay”, pop singer Taylor Swift threatened to take legal action over the use of her name. The company was forced to shut down the chatbot, developed by Microsoft’s Chinese researchers and first released on the mainland in 2014, when it started posting offensive and racist tweets less than 24 hours since its launch, after being corrupted by internet trolls who interacted with it.

“Tay was but one example of differing cultural practices across the Pacific,” Smith wrote.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Harvard Urges US to Unfreeze Funds for Public Health Research
Businessman Mauled by Lion at Luxury Namibian Lodge
Researchers Consider New Destinations Beyond the U.S.
53-Year-Old Doctor Claims Biological Age of 23
Trump Struggles to Secure Trade Deals With China and Europe
Russia to Return 6,000 Corpses Under Ukraine Prisoner Swap Deal
Microsoft Lays Off Hundreds More Amid Restructuring
Harvey Weinstein’s Publicist Embraces Notoriety
Macron and Meloni Seek Unity Despite Tensions
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Newark Mayor Sues Over Arrest at Immigration Facility
Center-Left Candidate Projected to Win South Korean Presidency
Trump’s Tariffs Predicted to Stall Global Economic Growth
South Korea’s President-Elect Expected to Take Softer Line on Trump and North Korea
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Ukraine Executes Long-Range Drone Strikes on Russian Airbases
Conservative Karol Nawrocki wins Poland’s presidential election
Study Identifies Potential Radicalization Risk Among Over One Million Muslims in Germany
Good news: Annalena Baerbock Elected President of the UN General Assembly
Apple Appeals EU Law Over User Data Sharing Requirements
South Africa: "First Black Bank" Collapses after Being Looted by Owners
Poland will now withdraw from the EU migration pact after pro-Trump nationalist wins Election
"That's Disgusting, Don’t Say It Again": The Trump Joke That Made the President Boil
Trump Cancels NASA Nominee Over Democratic Donations
Paris Saint-Germain's Greatest Triumph Is Football’s Lowest Point
OnlyFans for Sale: From Lockdown Lifeline to Eight-Billion-Dollar Empire
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Hegseth Warns of Potential Chinese Military Action Against Taiwan
OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Oil Output for Third Consecutive Month
Jamie Dimon Warns U.S. Bond Market Faces Pressure from Rising Debt
Turkey Detains Istanbul Officials Amid Anti-Corruption Crackdown
Taylor Swift Gains Ownership of Her First Six Albums
Bangkok Ranked World's Top City for Remote Work in 2025
Satirical Sketch Sparks Political Spouse Feud in South Korea
Indonesia Quarry Collapse Leaves Multiple Dead and Missing
South Korean Election Video Pulled Amid Misogyny Outcry
Asian Economies Shift Away from US Dollar Amid Trade Tensions
Netflix Investigates Allegations of On-Set Mistreatment in K-Drama Production
US Defence Chief Reaffirms Strong Ties with Singapore Amid Regional Tensions
Vietnam Faces Strategic Dilemma Over China's Mekong River Projects
Malaysia's First AI Preacher Sparks Debate on Islamic Principles
White House Press Secretary Criticizes Harvard Funding, Advocates for Vocational Training
France to Implement Nationwide Smoking Ban in Outdoor Spaces Frequented by Children
Meta and Anduril Collaborate on AI-Driven Military Augmented Reality Systems
Russia's Fossil Fuel Revenues Approach €900 Billion Since Ukraine Invasion
U.S. Justice Department Reduces American Bar Association's Role in Judicial Nominations
U.S. Department of Energy Unveils 'Doudna' Supercomputer to Advance AI Research
U.S. SEC Dismisses Lawsuit Against Binance Amid Regulatory Shift
Alcohol Industry Faces Increased Scrutiny Amid Health Concerns
Italy Faces Population Decline Amid Youth Emigration
×