It's disappointing to see that the 1 billion figure is what really grinds people's gears in here. That's the thing you should be the least concerned about.
It's probably because it's the most objectionable part of this, so it's the main target for nitpicking. The "Apple's responsible for a fuckup of their own product" isn't controversial, and I don't think "fuckups of ML used for law enforcement are a serious thing" is controversial either.
Aye, you would think that people would recognise that the value is directly proportional to the propensity of it being covered in news articles and, thus, starting discussions, such as this.