“Demand” is pure clickbait editorializing on the part of this article’s author. Here is the actual comment from Apple:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/09/the-digital-markets-a...

Which doesn’t read like a demand to me. Now, we may all agree or disagree with Apple’s claim, but characterizing it as a “demand” is pure modern journalism.

I read that statement and while I have some sympathy for the technical and privacy challenges, they made their bed by using the iPhone to lock people into the rest of their ecosystem, which is illegal under EU law.