As Channel News has reported, regarding the non-rollout of its Live Translation feature in the EU, Apple is pushing back hard on the EU Digital Marketing Act (DMA).
Among other issues, Apple is concerned about being compelled to enable deeper interoperability with third-party companies.
More specifically, it’s worried about DMA requirements that would force it to hand over sensitive data to direct and indirect competitors.
Data that even Apple doesn’t normally access.
The company is warning that it may have to hand over Wi Fi logs, which would allow other large tech companies, such as Meta, to track users.
Apple claims it may also have to hand over emails, medical alerts and messages.
Under the DMA, ‘gatekeeper’ companies, such as Apple, are required to provide free and effective interoperability with their hardware and software systems.
But Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak, argues a “radical interpretation” of DMA requirements is threatening to downgrade the user experience of Apple device users and threaten their privacy, as well as stifling innovation.
He’s warned there could soon be “very unintended consequences” that would “benefit a few wealthy companies” while yielding unwanted consequences for millions of Apple customers and developers.
In response, wealthy companies, such as Meta, have claimed Apple is exaggerating privacy concerns to maintain an anti-competitive walled garden.

Apple’s famous walled garden is now being beseiged across the globe
In relation to issues such as sharing Wi Fi logs, Joswiak told The Australian, “We [Apple] don’t see it. We don’t get it. But under these [DMA] rules, we’d be forced to hand it over to other companies, no matter who they are or how they plan to use it, in the name of interoperability.”
In more bad news for Apple, nations outside the EU are also pushing for the company’s walled garden ecosystem to become less walled.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has also been pushing to get Apple to open up its iOS ecosystem.
The ACCC wants to make it significantly easier for local Apple device users to use competing app stores and access third-party payments and other services.
As is the case with EU regulators, Apple has been pushing back against the ACCC.
Earlier this year, in a submission to Treasury, it argued, “Millions of Australians have chosen Apple’s products because they value a streamlined user experience that prioritises privacy protection and digital security.”
The submission went on to insist, “Any new regulatory framework should not deny consumers the choice of a differentiated, integrated, private, and secure product offering.”