Claude's MCP Apps integration raises privacy concerns amid expanded UI capabilities

Anthropic has expanded Claude's capabilities to display and interact with third-party application interfaces directly within its chat environment. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) Apps extension allows services like Figma, Slack, and Salesforce to render interactive dashboards, forms, and tools inside Claude's interface, eliminating the need to switch between applications.

While this creates seamless workflows, privacy advocates immediately raised concerns about compliance frameworks like GDPR and CCPA. "When users interact with embedded interfaces from multiple vendors within a single AI session, data controllers become obscured," explained European data protection specialist Elara Vance. "GDPR Article 26 requires clear designation of joint controllers when multiple parties determine processing purposes - a framework not designed for this level of integration."

The implementation surfaces third-party UIs through sandboxed iframes with security measures including:

• Pre-declared HTML templates
• Auditable message logging
• Host-managed approval for UI-initiated actions
• Event tracking for debugging

Despite these safeguards, CCPA compliance faces challenges around data minimization. "Embedding full application interfaces often transfers more user data than necessary for the requested service," noted California privacy attorney Marcus Wright. "This potentially violates Section 1798.100's data minimization requirements unless strictly scoped."

For companies enabling MCP Apps, three critical compliance implications emerge:

1. Controller-Processor Ambiguity: Organizations using Claude with integrated apps may become joint controllers under GDPR rather than pure processors
2. Consent Management: Granular consent must be obtained for each embedded application's data processing activities
3. Access Requests: Fulfilling DSARs (Data Subject Access Requests) requires coordinated data retrieval across Claude and all integrated third parties

Currently limited to Anthropic's launch partners including Figma, Asana, and Box, the feature's expansion will require:

• Updated Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs)
• Revised privacy notices detailing cross-application data flows
• Technical mechanisms for unified consent revocation
• Contractual agreements defining liability between Claude and third-party app providers

The MCP Apps specification (SEP-1865) builds upon OpenAI's Apps SDK framework. As AI interfaces increasingly become operating system alternatives, regulators face novel challenges in applying traditional compliance frameworks to these nested interaction models.