An Apple employee sued the company on Sunday evening, alleging the tech giant surveils its workforce and spies on workers using data from personal accounts and devices.
First reported by Semafor, the 28-page lawsuit filed in California Superior Court details how the plaintiff, Amar Bhakta, began working as a Digital Ad Tech/Operations Manager for Apple in July 2020. According to Bhakta, working for Apple meant waiving his rights to privacy and autonomy.
“Apple requires the use of Apple devices, software, and services for work, including personal iCloud accounts,” Bhakta’s complaint reads.
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Regardless of whether Apple owns the device or account or if the employee opts to use their own iPhones or iCloud accounts, Apple allegedly collects and uses their personal data — even when the employee isn’t working.
“Apple can engage in physical, video, and electronic surveillance,” per Bhakta’s complaint. It can also “search both Apple and non-Apple devices and other property,” even if the employee is in a home office.
The complaint further calls Apple’s ecosystem “a prison yard… where employees, both on and off duty, are ever subject to Apple’s all-seeing eye.”
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Bhakta also accused Apple of suppressing speech by stopping him from talking about his work experiences on podcasts and telling him to remove information about his work on LinkedIn.
Apple told Semafor that it disagrees with the allegations in the lawsuit and that “every employee has the right to discuss their wages, hours and working conditions and this is part of our business conduct policy, which all employees are trained on annually.”
Personal privacy concerns have worried Apple employees for years. In 2021, The Verge reported that Apple asked employees to link their personal Apple IDs to their work accounts, causing personal files to end up on their work laptops.
