You missed the important part:

> For this threat model

We're talking about a hypothetical scenario where a state actor getting the information encrypted by the E2E encryption puts your life or freedom in danger.

If that's you, yes, you absolutely shouldn't trust US corporations, and you should absolutely be auditing the source code. I seriously doubt that's you though, and it's certainly not me.

The sub-title from the original forbes article (linked in the first paragraph of TFA):

> But companies like Apple and Meta set up their systems so such a privacy violation isn’t possible.

...is completely utterly false. The journalist swallowed the marketing whole.

Okay, so yes I grant your point that people where governments are the threat model should be auditing source code.

I also grant that many things are possible (where the journalist says "isn't possible").

However, what remains true is that Microsoft appears to store this data in a manner that can be retrieved through "simple" warrants and legal processes, compared to Apple where these encryption keys are stored in a manner that would require code changes to accomplish.

These are fundamentally different in a legal framework and while it doesn't make Apple the most perfect amazing company ever, it shames Microsoft for not putting in the technical work to accomplish these basic barriers to retrieving data.