Apple and Meta trade barbs over interoperability requests
- Reference: 1734615313
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/12/19/apple_meta_interoperability/
- Source link:
It's all part of the interoperability measures in the European Digital Markets Act (DMA), which, among other things, requires gatekeepers – such as Apple – to "provide interoperability with and access to software and hardware features of designated operating systems." This includes iOS and iPadOS.
Apple, unsurprisingly, disagrees with the proposals and has published a [1]document [PDF] detailing how the DMA's interoperability mandate can be abused, and, significantly, names names when it comes to who is making the requests.
[2]
Apple said: "Meta has made 15 requests (and counting) for potentially far-reaching access to Apple's technology stack that, if granted as sought, would reduce the protections around personal data that our users have come to expect from their devices."
[3]
[4]
These requests include access to iMessage to send and read messages and direct access to TVs and smart speakers via AirPlay.
Apple also pointed out that Meta had been repeatedly fined for privacy violations.
[5]
In the US, Meta was fined billions by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle an investigation into Facebook following the disclosure of millions of user records to a third party. Last year, [6]Meta sued the FTC to strip it of the authority to regulate the social media giant. The company was also [7]sued by several US states over design practices that were alleged to damage the mental well-being of teenagers and children.
In the EU, [8]Meta was slapped with an eye-popping $1.3 billion fine over EU data being transferred to the US. This week, [9]it was fined $264 million for accidentally allowing miscreants to steal tokens via the "View As" feature.
The iPhone vendor warned: "If Apple were to have to grant all of these requests, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp could enable Meta to read on a user's device all of their messages and emails, see every phone call they make or receive, track every app that they use, scan all of their photos, look at their files and calendar events, log all of their passwords, and more."
[10]
Andy Stone, Meta Communications Director, responded to the EU's proposed measures and Apple's remarks on X. He [11]said : "So let's cut to the chase. Here's what Apple is actually saying: they don't believe in interoperability. In fact, every time Apple is called out for anti-competitive behavior, they defend themselves on privacy grounds that have no basis in reality."
[12]Apple hit with £3 billion claim of ripping off 40 million UK iCloud users
[13]Elon Musk's X isn't important enough to feel the full force of EU regulation
[14]Rival browsers cry foul after Microsoft Edge slips through EU gatekeeper cracks
[15]Europe to force Apple to help rivals connect to iOS, iPadOS
Andrew Bosworth, Meta CTO, [16]said : "If you paid for an iPhone you should be annoyed that Apple won't give you the power to decide what accessories you use with it! You paid a lot of money for that computer and it could be doing so much more for you but they handicap it to preference their own accessories (which are not always the best!). All we are asking for is the opportunity for consumers to choose how best to use their own devices."
The Register asked Meta for a list of the requests that irked Apple and a response to Apple's specific allegations – for example, that Meta would be able to access user passwords – and will update the article if the company responds.
The DMA prescribes interoperability by design for new features but permits gatekeepers to use a request-based process for existing, non-interoperable features. However, [17]the EC does not appear to be impressed with Apple's actions to date and has published a [18]lengthy list [PDF] of proposals for consultation.
The EC has also published [19]proposals [PDF] for how Apple might handle requests, including providing a "reliable, responsive and accessible contact point" to deal with developer requests and be more transparent regarding the whys and wherefores of rejection. ®
Get our [20]Tech Resources
[1] https://developer.apple.com/support/downloads/DMA-Interoperability-Dec-2024.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z2RRPUx1tDYrMVKhYc6bWQAAAQM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z2RRPUx1tDYrMVKhYc6bWQAAAQM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z2RRPUx1tDYrMVKhYc6bWQAAAQM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z2RRPUx1tDYrMVKhYc6bWQAAAQM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/30/meta_sues_ftc/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/24/33_states_lawsuit_meta/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/22/dpc_fines_meta_12b_tells/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/17/ireland_fines_meta_for_2018/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z2RRPUx1tDYrMVKhYc6bWQAAAQM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://x.com/andymstone/status/1869553546380898609
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/14/apple_sued_icloud_uk/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/17/eu_x_dma_regulation/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/07/microsoft_edge_eu_gatekeeper/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/19/apple_ios_ipad_os_eu/
[16] https://x.com/boztank/status/1869604282192015532
[17] https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/dma100204-consultation-proposed-measures-requesting-interoperability-apples-ios-and-ipados-operating_en
[18] https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/document/download/8f28e456-5bd4-4b33-af95-b9f52aeb8a03_en?filename=DMA.100203%20-%20Overview%20of%20proposed%20measures.pdf
[19] https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/document/download/45321658-26ce-4ae0-a66a-c5261de5a5a9_en?filename=DMA.100204%20-%20Proposed%20measures.pdf
[20] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Meta are so dodgy they make Apple look good. Wow.
Heh. Meta are so bad that they make _Microsoft_ look good and are closing on Google.
Metà are the scummiest
I'm expecting the usual apple bashing here but I WANT a locked down phone! If you want an open device get an android.
Meta are a company that LITERALLY facilitated a genocide in Myanmar. They refused to block "yahoo boys" running sextortion manuals & training in Facebook groups. They refuse to police Facebook marketplace which is a huge of fraud.
When they kicked off their instagram for 13 year olds, they initially stated PUBLICLY that they'd BLUR nice pictures 13 were sending & had to be shamed into NOT allowing their platform to openly be used to spread CSAM & allow even more kids to be driven to suicide.
Let's not forget the shenanigans when they used an apple developer certificate to push applications to kids on the app store & when apple cancelled the cert, no one at Facebook HQ could book meeting rooms or use internal systems.
I'm HAPPY that they lost $10 billion / year when apple rolled out the feature that forced developers to tell iphone owners what tracking their apps did.
Apple have a lot to be said against them but fuck me! Meta?! Apple aren't an advertising firm & I'm happy with that. They don't scrape your screen even when you tell them not to, as Google did with the pixel 2.
I want my privacy And I want apps that I put on the phone to be sandboxed. If metà get what that want, who knows what shenanigans they'll get up to with WhatsApp scraping everything an anything. And if you're a sysadmin...YOU try explaining to uses why you've banned it on their work phones becsuse you can't guarantee they're not scraping your company details and using it to train their AI
Re: Metà are the scummiest
Well then, you won't be stepping through the high regulated, 2FA requiring, oAuth-like flow (that's why even mentioning 'passwords' is just Apple being a dick) to grant Meta limited access to some Apple APIs with your account then.
For other people, being able to do this wil be valuable.
Re: Metà are the scummiest
Absolutely. A fundamental thing here is GDPR, and whether compliance with it can be guaranteed using rh information which would be made available if these requests (whatever they are) are allowed.
Given that Apple have zero control over the third parties who are requesting access to APIs/interoperability features, I could easily (and understandably) see Apple arguing that where allowing any request could result in personal information being made available (particularly about people other than the device user) then the GDPR provisions require them to refuse the requests.
cry wolf
I think Apple have been crying wolf. The EC have asked them to open up in lots of ways (3rd party app stores, payment processers, etc) and Apple have been obstructive and pretended to open up but with convoluted rules that can't be met. Depending on the request, Apple have two reasons not to comply: 1, it hurts their monopoly profit and 2, it damages user privacy or security. They have been shouting that every request will damage user security and privacy, when it clearly won't. It's all been reason 1 up until now. Now they get requests from Meta, who are the poster child for damaging user privacy but Apple's position is very weak because of their earlier lies. If they stop trying to defend clearly monopolistic behaviour then people might listen when they have a good reason to deny access.
Buying into the iThing infrastructure and swallowing the Apple Kool-Aid was always something of a pact with the devil but you know what?
I knew that when I wrote the cheques. I looked at the alternatives, I signed the cheques anyway, and I’ll still take Apples blend of seamless experience and barely concealed avarice over Google and X’s brands of clunky enshitification every time.
go Apple
I am no big Apple fan because I am a tinkerer, but Meta make them look like angels, they are an incomparably more moral company.
Apple are not faultless, but they make genuinely good products, care about the impression and experience people have about their products, and their security/privacy (to the kind of extent expected these days)
Meta would happily get the entire world hooked on slop for 8 hours a day from childhood if it made them extra billions in ad money. Zuck is either a sociopath or a synth. Teenage depression, addiction, political polarisation, CSAM, animal abuse, extremism, data theft? Who cares, just keep scrolling and click that ad, the lawyers will see the govts in court.
"doing so risks user privacy."
What privacy ?
"If Apple were to have to grant all of these requests, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp could enable Meta to read on a user's device all of their messages and emails, see every phone call they make or receive, track every app that they use, scan all of their photos, look at their files and calendar events, log all of their passwords, and more."
Yup... and Apple wants to keep all of that data for itself...