> Either Apple and Amazon are lying or Bloomberg is wrong
Apple and Amazon are compelled to lie. It's a classified investigation and likely only cleared employees are aware of it, and they have to deny its existence or stand to lose their clearance (worth $$$).
How can companies be forced to issue such press statements? They may be forced to give incomplete answers when asked, but these statements go far beyond answering questions.
The people issuing press statements are almost certainly out of the loop. And of course, no one with knowledge of the situation is going to step forward, given they have a strong incentive to stay silent.
I mean, think of your own company's PR team. If you've worked for a large company, you've likely had interaction with a PR team that was pretty ignorant about the inner workings of the company. Now, add to that the fact that this is a classified investigation being run by FBI counterintelligence, and interfacing only with cleared employees (none of whom work for the PR team).
You are a PR guy. A respected and big news agency puts out an article saying your company is involved in some secret stuff - stuff that you wouldn't know about.
Do you release a press release denying everything without asking the guys who are supposed to know about it? Would those guys say to you it's all fabricated and urge you to deny it or will they evade answering it (or even more likely they'll go up the chain)?
Right, PR folks may not understand how all the stuff works in their company, but they sure as shit know which topics require senior approvals. That is basic self-preservation for them.
Apple and Amazon are compelled to lie. It's a classified investigation and likely only cleared employees are aware of it, and they have to deny its existence or stand to lose their clearance (worth $$$).