Facebook just admitted losing the battle with Apple over privacy



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Facebook was quick to voice concerns about the upcoming changes to iOS 14. Last summer, Apple first announced the changes, which include the requirement that apps include a nutritional privacy label to show. to users what data is collected and how it is used, as well as what Apple calls Application Tracking Transparency (ATT), which requires apps to ask for permission before tracking users.

Apple has delayed its implementation to give advertisers and developers time to adjust to the change. Now, however, it should arrive with the next update to iOS.

In the meantime, Facebook has made its fight public. The company ran a pair of ads in three of the nation’s top newspapers, accusing Apple of attacking small businesses and the open Internet. Mark Zuckerberg also attacked Apple’s motives during the company’s quarterly earnings report last month, and there are reports he was considering filing an antitrust complaint against the iPhone maker.

Now, the company has launched a new campaign, including an ad titled “Good ideas deserve to be found”. The new ad is a little hard to follow, but is meant to show the value of personalized small business ads. Facebook wants to make it very clear that personalized ads make for a better experience on Facebook and Instagram, which it also owns.

In a blog post, Facebook explains why:

Everyone’s News Feed is unique, which means you’re more likely to see the content you want to watch, the groups you want to join, the creators you want to follow, and the products and services you want. buy. This discovery is fueled by personalization, and it’s the not-so-secret sauce that helps people discover products and services that meet their needs. It’s also the engine small businesses use to reach their most likely customers, at an affordable price. We think it’s good for small businesses and for people who love their products. And we want more people to know why.

There’s a lot to discover in this statement, but it’s worth noting what Facebook doesn’t say. Facebook never talks about following because it doesn’t want you to think about following. He doesn’t want you to think about the fact that the goal of the business is to let you track everything you do online so that you can serve those personalized ads.

The point is, it’s not risky. Apple isn’t ending personalized ads – or even tracking, for that matter. It is enough for the applications to ask for permission first.

This leads to an interesting question. Who is the ad intended for? Does Facebook hope Apple will change its mind? It doesn’t seem likely. Tim Cook has already made the company’s position clear.

The company won’t prevent Facebook from following you, but it will need to ask your permission first.

Why, then, is Facebook so worried? Because he knows what everyone already knows – that when given a choice, most people will choose not to allow Facebook to follow them.

If this turns out to be bad for Facebook’s business, it’s not Apple’s fault. It just means that Facebook’s business model is based on something most people would rather not do.

Except small businesses can still advertise to their customers. They can still use whatever information Facebook knows about its users, such as their gender, age, location, and interests, to serve ads. If you are a small business, none of that changes. The only person who is really at risk of losing seems to be Facebook.

The opinions expressed here by the columnists of Inc.com are theirs and not those of Inc.com.

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