Enshittification of Arduino Begins? Qualcomm Starts Clamping Down
16 hours ago
- #Qualcomm
- #OpenSource
- #Arduino
- Qualcomm acquired Arduino in October 2025, raising concerns in the maker community.
- Adafruit Industries highlighted alarming changes to Arduino's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
- New policies include perpetual, irrevocable user licenses over uploaded content (code, projects, posts).
- Arduino can use, modify, and sublicense user content without restrictions, even after account deletion.
- Reverse engineering restrictions contradict Arduino's original open-source values.
- User data, including minors', is shared with Qualcomm Group companies.
- Qualcomm and Arduino claim the platform's core spirit remains unchanged.
- Existing non-Qualcomm Arduino boards will continue to be supported.
- Community scrutiny is warranted due to the departure from openness and transparency.
- Hardware aspects remain unchanged for now, but future responses will clarify Arduino's direction under Qualcomm.