If they were instructed to do so by the government they would not really have a choice, which would very likely produce leaks.
If true, this is vastly different from the government requesting a backdoor or various warrant canaries, this would be an actual national security threat.
Is there any mechanism that the government can use to force you to lie? I know they can keep you silent but forcing you to say anything, true or otherwise, feels like a huge 1st amendment issue as the government can't typically compel speech, can it? I'm not a lawyer so curious on the perspective of someone who might know the details better.
Under certain circumstances the government can force a person or corporation to produce speech that is true - for instance, they are allowed to force you to file your taxes. However, there has never been a case to my knowledge where the government has been able to compel a lie - and any attempt to do so would immediately be subject to a legal case over constitutionality.
It would also be compelled speech, and from what I've read,
> governments have the right to mandate corporate speech “if the information in the disclosure is reasonably related to a substantial governmental interest and is purely factual.”
Since that would not be the case here, I do not believe it would be legally defensible for the government to compel false statements out of both Apple and Amazon.
The government could say "look here, this is an actual national security issue" and Apple, Amazon, etc could say "oh shit, you're right - how can we help?"
If this were a real national security risk, what incentive would Apple, Amazon, etc have to tell divulge the truth rather than cooperating with the government? This is vastly different than saying no to a requested NSA backdoor.
Actually, that's not the latest news on that. I looked up that case on scotusblog & it was vacated based on the result of "National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra" which I believe overturns the 9th Circuit's ruling on this although I'm not totally sure. Regardless, you're right. No ruling has held the government has the right to compel factually incorrect speech.
If true, this is vastly different from the government requesting a backdoor or various warrant canaries, this would be an actual national security threat.