Exposed: Apple Inc.

Apple markets itself as the privacy-first alternative in Big Tech, and in many respects it delivers stronger protections than competitors. App Tracking Transparency (ATT) introduced in iOS 14.5 gave users the ability to block cross-app tracking, costing Meta an estimated $10 billion in annual ad revenue. However, Apple is not without its own privacy contradictions. The company collects significant telemetry data from iPhones, including location services data, Siri voice recordings, App Store browsing patterns, Apple Maps routes, and Health app data. Apple pays Google $26 billion annually to remain the default search engine on Safari, directly funding Google's surveillance infrastructure while claiming to oppose it. iCloud data stored without Advanced Data Protection enabled is accessible to Apple and, by extension, to law enforcement via subpoena. The CSAM scanning proposal in 2021, though ultimately shelved, revealed Apple had developed the technical capability to scan private photos on user devices. Apple Advertising, the company's own growing ad network within the App Store and Apple News, uses first-party data for targeting in ways that benefit from the ATT restrictions placed on competitors.