Apple accused of silencing workers, spying on personal devices

Apple has been accused in a new lawsuit of illegally monitoring its workers' personal devices and iCloud accounts while also barring them from discussing their pay and working conditions.

The complaint filed in California state court on Sunday by Amar Bhakta, who works in digital advertising for Apple, claims the company requires employees to install software on personal devices that they use for work allowing Apple to access their email, photo libraries, health and "smart home" data and other personal information.

At the same time, the lawsuit alleges, Apple imposes confidentiality policies that prohibit employees from discussing working conditions, including with the media, and engaging in legally-protected whistleblowing.

Bhakta, who has worked for Apple since 2020, says he was barred from talking about his work on podcasts and instructed to remove information about his working conditions from his LinkedIn profile.

"Apple's surveillance policies and practices chill, and thus also unlawfully restrain, employee whistleblowing, competition, freedom of employee movement in the job market, and freedom of speech," the lawsuit said.