Tech giant Apple says “aggressive interpretation” of new EU rules governing Big Tech companies could force it to remove privacy safeguards intended to protect users, calling for more co-operation with data privacy authorities in the region.
The company was responding to guidelines clarifying the interaction between the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which were published in October. Consultation on the guidelines, which are intended to provide legal certainty for companies, ended on December 4th.
Apple said there was a need for clear guidelines to balance the regulation of platforms and competition with privacy and security. The joint guidelines provided this opportunity. It called for the input of independent data protection authorities such as the European Data Protection Board to be fully brought into the DMA decision-making framework, saying the European Commission had “insufficiently consulted and considered the expertise of data protection authorities”.
The EU implemented the DMA last year to protect consumers and ensure that big tech firms do not abuse their dominance of a range of digital markets, such as mobile apps and search engines. Fines for breaching the regulations can be up to 10 per cent of global revenue, or more in the case of repeated infringements.
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Apple called on the European Commission to work with data protection watchdogs to ensure that the DMA does not undermine the company’s ability to protect the privacy of its users.
“At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right – and that our users deserve strong protections. The European Commission’s aggressive interpretation of the DMA is mandating that Apple remove critical privacy safeguards, including by requiring that third parties get unrestricted access to users’ sensitive information,” the company said.
“We urge the EC to work with data protection authorities to ensure the DMA does not force Apple to undermine our products’ ability to protect users’ privacy and security.”
In its formal submission, Apple said the commission was viewing the regulations through a competition lens, which overlooked the risks to the privacy and security of personal data. The company has raised concerns over “unintended consequences” of measures to encourage interoperability.
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“It does not make sense for data protection authorities to encourage Apple and others to invest in on-device processing of personal data, only for the EC to force Apple to make users’ sensitive data available to third parties through an interoperability mandate,” the company said in its submission.
Apple warned that the joint guidelines are “gravely incomplete”, and fail to address the interoperability mandate.
It also raised concerns about future challenges posed by AI, and the lack of provision for the technology in the guidelines, saying data protection authorities “cannot afford to wait until AI-related privacy risks emerge”.
