Google, however, refuted the allegations.

“We’ve reviewed the research and determined that Chrome’s behavior does not violate Apple’s policy, and the data is not being used for fingerprinting,” a Google spokesperson said. “Instead, this data is being used to ensure proper device functionality.”

According to Google, the data being sent off-device is not being derived from the “required reasons APIs.” The data here is being used to ensure a device functions properly when its clock is updated for various reasons (such as taking a flight that impacts your timezone).

Questions to Meta and Spotify have remained unanswered. Apple too did not respond to the queries on the matter.

In an X thread, the researchers at Mysk more apps were found to be senging the collected data off-device,  including YouTube, Reddit, eBay, and Discord.

“The new rule came into effect on May 1, 2024. So we’re testing popular apps that get updated after that deadline,” Mysk said.