To clear up the FUD here, this is only true if you turn on iCloud backups (many users do, but still) and don't turn on Advanced Data Protection. ADP is off by default because it means you'll lose all your backups if you forget your iCloud password.
> it’s a platform designed to aid illegal government surveillance.
These are the defaults. You don’t need to turn on iCloud Backup, it’s already on. You don’t need to turn off Advanced Data Protection, it’s already off.
Literally all you need to do is turn on a new iPhone and try to install any app. It will prompt for your Apple ID login (impossible to install apps without it) and will automatically enable iCloud, iCloud Backup, and iMessage (and will not enable ADP).
They explicitly killed the e2ee support for backups some time ago at the behest of the FBI to preserve the backdoor. It’s still practically backdoored for nearly all iMessage users because it is off by default (and the UX sucks even if you turn it on). Approximately nobody is using it; the status quo is preserved. iMessage is backdoored and is not e2ee due to key escrow. If you message someone on iMessage, Apple will be able to read the message, even if you have ADP enabled (because the other endpoint does not). That’s fact, today.
Additionally, even if you turn on ADP, the hashes of unencrypted file content in iCloud are stored non-e2ee, so Apple can still see who has which unique files and when, and who else receives them and when. This allows them to monitor social graphs, too.
Messages in iCloud (different thing, used for syncing iMessage conversations to all your devices) is off by default, to my knowledge backups of the iMessage database is on by default in the iCloud backup setting, but admittedly I haven't setup a new device without restoring an iCloud backup in many many years.
Messages is iCloud is mostly used to free up local storage, and to sync old messages to new devices. You don’t need it to sync messages most of the time.
Wasn't it an attempt to take the fangs out of the FBI's push for encryption backdoors? As one of the largest messaging platforms in the US, what Apple does with E2E absolutely factors into public policymaking.
> it’s a platform designed to aid illegal government surveillance.
Come on.