Typically, people who are trying to defend themselves from nation state threat actors aren’t using iPhones or stock Android phones, and absolutely wouldn’t use safe browsing if they did.
And the U.S. Government isn't making a phone call to get the data.
They have a "law enforcement portal" they can log in to in order to request the data.
Are we classing the FBI as a "nation state threat actor" now?
If you're outside the US, yes.
What does that have to do with the threat posed?
I don't think it's about the FBI as much as the rest of the three-letter soup. NSA, CIA et al. most certainly are a threat to anyone outside the USA holding valuable secrets.
Well, it is an actor and it is a government agency...
Why not? Every system holding PII poses a potential threat, at the very least because every system can get hacked, and at worst because folks with “legitimate” access to that data can still abuse it.
Ever heard of Edward Snowden? He exposed how three letter agencies were engaging in mass surveillance, even including American citizens in violation of their very own constitution they've sworn to protect.
It always should have been. I'm not sure anyone would not class them as a nation state threat level. It's one of the most powerful government agencies in the most powerful nation in the world. If they don't fit that definition who would?
For the Chinese government it's a direct feed from Tencent, which Apple devices sent URL data to.
No silver bullet. This is a counter against surveillance capitalism but not against surveillance states. In the long run the only sure way to prevent data misuse is to remove the data, but moving existing data to entities without the financial incentives to misuse it is still a step in the right direction.