President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, which is meant to prevent immigrants and travelers from certain Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, has sparked a lot of emotional remarks from foreign travelers and refugees. Many eminent brands, most prominently Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Uber and Lyft have also announced their distress against the decision and now Japanese tech behemoth Rakuten has also joined the thread.
The orders directly influences the people coming from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and even though they have been temporarily blocked by a federal judge and the immigrants granted an extended temporary stay — the orders will surely have an overarching influence over world business and relations.
Hiroshi Mikitani,CEO Rakuten lambasted Trump’s orders in his tweet, which read;
I am very sad to see what is happening now in the US. I came to US when I was seven and I really respect big American big heart.
He also revealed that Viber, the messaging and calling app which was acquired by Rakuten three years ago, will facilitate all international calls form U.S. to the seven affected countries completely free of cost.
Mikitani tweets;
Rakuten Group Viber will announce tomorrow free international calls from the US to all countries banned.
Viber, founded in 2010, is an IM app with claims of over 800 million global users across all of its platforms, including desktop, Android, and iOS. It offers features like individual and group chat, voice and video calls but unlike WhatsApp, it also offers calling features on normal telephones, mobiles and landlines.
Previously, some bigwigs of the tech world Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Twitter, and Uber included have openly criticized Trump’s order, though a few of their statements were a little unenthusiastic.
However, many companies have backed their statements with positive steps: For instance, Google has committed $4 million to ACLU to help it in its fight against the ban, Uber has set a fund of $3 million for helping the immigrant drivers, and Airbnb has also promised free housing for the affected.
