On: UK Government is breaking the law by collecting ev...

[gutnor]

Indeed, the simplification is probably for reader: so they don't think they can avoid being monitored by simply using the facebook app rather than facebook in a browser.

[shubb → gutnor]

However, this is a law, and laws must be written to be read very litterally.

They could have made the law more general by talking about 'messages' or 'accesses a server'.

They said app used. That genuinely could compel Google or Apple to hand over your usage metrics.