Brands have long relied on social auditing companies to monitor their supply chains in China. But between the industry’s own flaws and a changing political environment in China, many say social audits aren't reliable.
Illustration by Luis Grañena
In 2012, just as Apple was preparing to release the iPhone 5, the company found itself in a bind. A damning series of reportsIn addition to The New York Times, other media outlets and labor rights groups also published reports on labor conditions at factories in China that contracted to manufacture for Apple. was released that detailed troubling working conditions at the factories of a key supplier, Foxconn, in Chengdu and Shenzhen, China. Apple’s supplier, the reports had found, had excessive
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