Make no mistake: The European Union has handed Mark Zuckerberg unprecedented access to European citizens’ digital privacy.
Last week, Apple formally appealed the EU’s interoperability mandate, stating that it was doing so on behalf of European users whose privacy would be harmed by the ruling. In its appeal, Apple claims that companies have already requested access to users’ “most sensitive data — from the content of their notifications to a full history of every stored WiFi network on their device—giving them the ability to access personal information that even Apple doesn’t see.”
The escalating legal battle stems from the Digital Markets Act, which came into force in the EU last year and requires tech companies to provide “interoperability” access to third parties — aimed at making cross-platform interaction smoother. Essentially, the goal here was to increase competition by “leveling the playing field” so that cross-ecosystems use would be more seamless, ensuring for example that a Samsung smartwatch would pair as smoothly with an iPhone as an Apple Watch would. Apple published a whitepaper last year in response to this, raising concerns about the privacy implications it will have.
But companies with significantly worse track records on privacy, ranging from the likes of Facebook to Google, wasted precious little time trying to get the data that Apple has intentionally walled off: Meta has already made 15 separate requests for access to Apple user data, more than any other company. According to Apple, if granted, these requests would enable Meta — through Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — to read every message EU citizens send, track each phone call they make, scan every photo they take, and even log passwords they enter. Apple has documented specific requests including access to iMessage, AirPlay, CarPlay, and others. This would be done in the name of offering a more seamless experience across devices.
Meta disputes this characterization, insisting that they respect user privacy. Their track record, however, begs to differ: This is the same company that “accidentally” collected call and text logs from Android users for years, that paid teenagers to install spyware on their phones — that inadvertently allowed Cambridge Analytica access to 87 million users’ data. Meta has been repeatedly fined by international regulators, both in Europe and outside, for such privacy violations.
Apple has spent billions building privacy default settings into its devices worldwide, while European governments seem intent on dismantling them. Just the other month, the UK ordered Apple to build a backdoor into their encrypted protection for iCloud files for accounts based in their country. So much for Brexit.
This may be in theory about competition, but in reality, it’s just enabling surveillance. While the EU has crafted endless legislation in the name of protecting users’ privacy, the DMA has created a regulatory backdoor that renders many such safeguards worthless to its own citizens. They are in the process of forcing the only major tech company that chose user privacy to enable other companies full access to your data.
European regulators created this problem, and they need to fix it. They may be trying to create a level playing field, but in reality, they’re enabling the rollout of an even more surveillance-orientated corporatism. Achieving better interoperability was possible without demolishing privacy protections, but the EU chose to bulldoze through those safeguards rather than work with the free market. The DMA’s implementation has become exactly what critics warned it would: a Trojan horse for surveillance practices.
Apple has a strong case. For over a year now, Apple asserts that European regulators have been systematically dismantling the privacy protections that made the company the gold standard for digital privacy in a comparatively bleak ecosystem of Big Tech.
If European regulators have any remaining concern for protecting their citizens’ privacy, they’ll listen to the company that’s actually done it without government mandates — before they complete the handover of European data to those who never will.
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