Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#241

Post by rsynnott » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

jonhohle wrote: post #224

ornornor wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay? I don’t see the problem, these requirements are known from the beginning so if complying wasn’t planned and requires re-architecturing the software to make it happens that’s on the engineering org not on the EU regulator. Unless I’m missing something?

These are relatively recent and may have come into force after development began, definitely after Siri development an initial integration into personal data. I suppose if you think these rules are reasonable, you’d be happy to not have this functionality. The rest of the world will be happy to not allow third parties access to our data. As a small developer, the cost to support something like this would be so overwh…

> These are relatively recent and may have come into force after development began, definitely after Siri development an initial integration into personal data.

The DMA was substantially finalised by 2020, and came into force in 2023. Apple's AI thing was developed with the full knowledge that it existed. The issue isn't personal data here (that'd be the GDPR, and maybe to some extent the AI Act). The DMA is about _competition_. The EU's issue here is that Apple is giving its own AI thing a level of access unavailable to other vendors' AI things, I'd assume.

> As a small developer

You are not covered by the DMA. You'd need an EEA turnover of 7.5bn and/or a market cap of 75bn, for a start. And you'd also need to be a _platform_. The DMA only really applies to a few companies.

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#242

Post by Forgeties79 » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #178

Forgeties79 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one complains (out loud) about US regulations either. Ultimately it’s about the weight you can throw as well as PR. Probably easier for Apple to make the EU look bad and drag their feet on it. I imagine they’re still not thrilled about the Lightening->USB-C change

> No one complains (out loud) about US regulations either Everyone constantly does!

The same way they constantly do and don’t about the Chinese government I’d say.

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#243

Post by m3kw9 » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

simjnd wrote: post #126

m3kw9 wrote: post #90

Apple is right, EU wants to live in the stone age because of these laws, let them.

Right, wanting operability, alternative default apps, equal access to APIs is "wanting to live in the stone age". POSIX is the stone age model, and Microsoft is the future.

[flagged]

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#244

Post by ragazzina » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

jonhohle wrote: post #224

ornornor wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay? I don’t see the problem, these requirements are known from the beginning so if complying wasn’t planned and requires re-architecturing the software to make it happens that’s on the engineering org not on the EU regulator. Unless I’m missing something?

These are relatively recent and may have come into force after development began, definitely after Siri development an initial integration into personal data. I suppose if you think these rules are reasonable, you’d be happy to not have this functionality. The rest of the world will be happy to not allow third parties access to our data. As a small developer, the cost to support something like this would be so overwh…

> These are relatively recent and may have come into force after development began,

If it were the case, Apple would just say it (with receipts).

> I suppose if you think these rules are reasonable, you’d be happy to not have this functionality.

As a European Apple user I am absolutely OK with not having these functionalities, which I am 100% sure would not even work as advertised given the company track record.

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#245

Post by inetknght » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #207

dylan604 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Apple is so pro-privacy like they claim, then they'd look for the most strict international privacy laws and abide by them. Then they could feel safe in knowing they could release the product anywhere. The fact they want to make the product available under the "rules" of the least privacy protecting countries first says a lot to me

DMA is about competition, not privacy. Apple weren’t requesting a GDPR waiver.

So Apple doesn't want to compete? Cry me a river.

I could almost feel sympathy if it were something to do with some contract that Apple signed with their AI provider. Who's that, Google?

Ahh, a "competitor"? Yeah... cry me a river.

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#246

Post by nkozyra » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #178

Forgeties79 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one complains (out loud) about US regulations either. Ultimately it’s about the weight you can throw as well as PR. Probably easier for Apple to make the EU look bad and drag their feet on it. I imagine they’re still not thrilled about the Lightening->USB-C change

> No one complains (out loud) about US regulations either Everyone constantly does!

> Everyone constantly does!

In the aggregate, I agree, but in tech things are pretty loose outside of California.

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#247

Post by MBCook » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

altern8 wrote: post #225

I really don't get why this wasn't a requirement that was baked in since the beginning. Apple must know that they have customers in EU countries..?

They’re already two years behind on this. And they’re only launching with one language anyway.

It’s not like the feature is fully finished.

If it took another year to get out the door and be compliant, do you think they would’ve wanted to wait? Or do you think they would rather launch now and then provide a compliant version later?

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#248

Post by schubidubiduba » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

macintux wrote: post #217

gmueckl wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's even worse, then. They are not responsible for other companies' products. So this is just another piece of anti-DMA propaganda then. They have been fighting it loudly and with toddler-level arguments since they became subject to it.

A huge part of Apple’s marketing, whether you believe them or not, is that they try to protect your privacy. The smartphone is probably the most sensitive device most people own. It knows your location always. It has your banking apps. Your password manager. Your instant messages, and social media chats, it knows whether you’re walking, or driving, or talking on the phone, and to whom. Once Apple allows any other ven…

All of that happens only if the user chooses to do it though. Anybody is free to stay in the caged Apple garden. The EU just wants them to leave the door unlocked.

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#249

Post by ahartmetz » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

thrance wrote: post #73

bnj wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I follow the situation, it seems that regulatory uncertainty is a major issue though- the EU’s requirements are framed in terms of outcomes sought, rather than in terms that can be quantitatively shown as met or broken. So it’s not a matter of dedicating a team to meet a list of requirements, but instead navigating the worst case scenario of enforcement if post-launch the EU determines that the proscribed outcomes…

EU laws are written like this to give companies maximum freedom in how they implement their solutions, not to lay traps for them to fall into.

The criticism reads like people who don't understand a high trust society - which I don't think is actually the case here, more like assuming that the foreign guys are bad guys.

"They really don't try to fuck you over if you engage with them in good faith?"

"Yes, really."

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#250

Post by microtonal » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

4fterd4rk wrote: post #158

microtonal wrote: post #7

So, first they have to be regulated because Apple and Android form a duopoly. Then they want to get an exception that the other duopoly player does not get. Of course, as usual they use their PR machine to blame the EU, whereas they really just want to abuse their platform's position to shut out competitors. I have been a decades long Apple user, but their anti-competitive behavior, pushing ads into the OS and apps,…

EU wants people to be able to plug any model into the new Siri system that will have unlimited access to all of your messages, photos, what's on your screen, browsing history, etc. Apple says hey so we're going to need some time to figure out if we can do that in a way that won't completely fuck over our users. Very different than the narrative you're pushing

Apple Intelligence was announced at WWDC two years ago, they had plenty of time to work on interoperability. Besides that:

access to all of your messages, photos, what's on your screen, browsing history, etc. Apple says hey so we're going to need some time to figure out if we can do that in a way that won't completely fuck over our users.

The point is that if Apple's model gets all that access, they should give others access to those APIs as well, otherwise they are giving themselves benefits over the competition. A company can do that, but not once they are considered a gatekeeper in the EU. It's up to the user to choose an LLM provider that has good privacy rules (or stick with Apple if there is no other provider). That's fair competition, a user can weigh pricing, privacy, etc. and make their own choice. Now they are stuck with Apple and have to get an iCloud+ subscription to fully use the AI features. The 18 month delay is not to figure this out, it's to entrench themselves as much as possible first.

Following your line of reasoning, if Apple had this behavior in 2010-2015, instant messaging applications outside iMessage wouldn't have the option to ask access to your contacts (privacy), no possibility to share a location in a chat (privacy), no means to show notifications (probably privacy too), etc.

It's surprising how much people are willing to do the bidding of tech oligarchs. Remember, this is the company that has spent years doing malicious compliance around the DMA and DSA, why should they be trusted this time?