If I were to speculate, I’ve seen lots of references as to how Apple reports way less of this to the appropriate authority than the rest of their competition. It does kinda sound to me like this is the consequence of external pressure. I cannot prove this but speculate, of course.

I just don’t think the messaging they had around this is reassuring at all. While they had all sorts of technical explanations as to how trustworthy this will all be because they are in charge, the whole thing quickly went from “this is only for iCloud photos” and only in the US to “3rd party integration can happen” and “we’re expanding it to other countries”. Which I guess is a logical next step but it is a hint at expansion.

The walled garden becomes much less tempting after all of this, especially right after a scandal like the Pegasus one.