Two human rights organizations want the European Union to force Apple to remove all barriers to making third-party app stores — but it’s an unnecessary demand that ignores that the iPhone remains the greatest freedom of speech and expression hardware ever made.
An EU flag with the App Store logo
An EU flag with the App Store logo
Users in the European Union are now able to buy iPhone apps from third-party alternatives to the App Store. Apple has consistently objected to opening up the iPhone, and tries to limit privacy issues — but now two groups are complaining that it is overstepping the mark.
The two are Article 19 — a UK-based human rights organization which works worldwide — and Berlin-based Gesellschaft fr Freiheitsrechte (GFF), which translates as Society for Freedom Rights. Their joint argument is that Apple’s conditions for developing a third-party app store are intentionally designed to prevent companies doing it.
