I can certainly empathize with the farmer's situation and the financial repercussions from an event that clearly isn't their fault at all. It's strange to me though that people think that Apple/Google are _obligated_ to list their business. They're private companies, providing a service to users in exchange for eyeball time. Unless the business is outright paying Apple to be correctly listed/mapped (which I doubt they are), it doesn't seem like they're at all entitled to be listed correctly.<p>That said, it intuitively <i>feels</i> like they do at least to the farmer from the tone of the article (and similar stories), and to me as well. To me, this means that we're all sort of categorizing such mapping services in the same way that we categorize government services/utilities, and act like we _just for existing_ deserve some form of FRAND treatment from such services.<p>I wonder if there is some kind of legal framework to be found that could better align how people expect apple/google to interact, with their actual legal obligations towards listed companies (which AFAICT is fuck all).
“It is understood that after being contacted the business listing for Thistleberry Farm was changed.”<p>It sounds like someone other than Apple or the farm owners changed the information for the farm in Apple Maps.<p>I don’t know if anyone can do this, but I have reported problems with businesses in Apple Maps - marking them as closed, or changing contact information, or moving their position on the map when it was wrong. These changes don’t take effect immediately - I get a notification (usually within a few days) that the changes have been approved. I assume someone at Apple (or more likely, a contracted third party) reviews these suggestions and approves them.<p>Not to attempt to absolve Apple in any way of responsibility, but what I suspect we are seeing here is a sort of information warfare, where competitors/malicious individuals are reporting changes that they know will hurt the business in question.
It's scary to think how easily a handful of giant corporations can destroy most smaller businesses, either through malice or indifference. If Apple/Google wipe your store or restaurant off their maps, or let only bad reviews stay visible, if Cloudflare drops their DDoS protection, if Chrome flags your website as harmful, or Windows flags your app as malware, an app store bans you.. even your personal life can be made difficult if Amazon or Uber ban you from their services.
Related yesterday, also from ABC.net.au:<p><i>Apple Maps wrongly lists restaurant permanently closed, costing owner thousands</i><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39098142">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39098142</a>