I know people say Apple’s commitment to privacy is all talk, and there are valid criticisms of Apple and their business practices, but they seem better than the other big tech companies like Meta, MS, and Google by a very wide margin when it comes to privacy.

Agreed. But people hate Apple, and will always throw mud at it. Been that way for decades. Not worth losing sleep over.

Of course, things can change. One reason that I think they are serious about privacy, is because Tim Cook is a gay man, with a great deal of involvement in the gay community.

There's very few demographics, in today's world, that are as sensitive to privacy and anonymity, as gay folks.

His successor may not hold the same values.

Also, Peter Thiel is gay, and Roy Cohn was gay, so there's that...