Facebook prepares app store lawsuit against Apple: report

Facebook is preparing a lawsuit against Apple over its App Store policies, according to a new report.

The lawsuit alleges that Apple abused its power by forcing apps listed on its App Store to follow specific policies that Apple’s own apps don’t, The Information reported Thursday.

Facebook has not commented on the pending litigation, but told FOX Business in a statement it believes “Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using its control of the App Store to benefit its bottom line at the expense of application developers and small businesses. “

IPhone user touching the Facebook application (iStock)

Apple first announced a number of new transparency-focused changes to its App Store policies for iOS 14 in June, including permission requests for user data that are expected to roll out “shortly” thereafter. that the tech giant delayed the update “to give developers time to make the necessary changes,” according to a September blog post.

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The permission request update, called App Tracking Transparency, “will roll out widely in early spring” and will force apps to ask a user’s permission before tracking their personal data on owned apps or websites. to other companies, Apple said in a press release Wednesday.

Users will be able to see which apps have requested permission to track data in the “Settings” sections of their iPhones.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg condemned Apple and its new policies during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

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“Apple has every interest in using its dominant position on the platform to interfere with the operation of our apps and other apps, which they regularly do to prefer theirs,” he said. “This is impacting the growth of millions of businesses around the world, including with the upcoming changes to iOS14, many small businesses will no longer be able to reach their customers with targeted advertising.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is seen testifying remotely during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. (REUTERS / Hannah McKay / Pool)

He also said some of Apple’s new privacy policies were hypocritical. The iPhone maker’s new “nutrition labels”, for example, show what types of data apps collect from users, which Zuckerberg says focuses “largely on the metadata apps collect rather than privacy. and the security of people’s real messages ”.

The social media manager continued to note that “Apple’s iMessage stores non-end-to-end encrypted backups of your messages by default, unless you turn iCloud off, so Apple and governments have the ability to access them. messages from most people, ”he said. “So when it comes to what matters most – protecting people’s messages, I think WhatsApp is clearly superior.”

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Apple did not immediately respond to a request from FOX Business.

Facebook has been critical of Apple’s new rules since the summer and launched an ad campaign on Dec. 18 saying it was “standing up for Apple for small businesses around the world” by pushing back on Apple’s privacy updates.

Facebook-owned Instagram manager Adam Mosseri defended the use of personal data in a December 16 tweet, saying it helps small businesses create personalized ads.

These advertisements “are an important tool for small businesses to identify and communicate with their customers in a way that only big budgets used to allow. This is especially important right now, given all the challenge.[s] that small businesses face, ”he wrote.

Videos posted to Twitter at the time showed App Store users browsing Facebook’s privacy information section, revealing a long list of the website’s data collection practices.

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Ahead of the campaign’s launch, Cook tweeted an image of Apple’s new data permission request feature, which asks users: “Allow Facebook to track your activity on other companies’ apps and websites. ? “

“We believe that users should have a choice between what data is collected about them and how it is used,” Cook said. “Facebook can continue to track users on apps and websites as before, the transparency of app tracking in iOS 14 will just require them to ask for your permission first.”

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