Apple vs Facebook: Promotes Privacy or Fallacy?
Apple vs Facebook!
Two tech giants are all over each other, buckling down and corroborating to prove that ‘I am decorous over the other’. Apple and Facebook have about 1 billion and 2.45 billion respectively, each new policy from either of the tech giants influences a colossal amount of people's lives directly as well as indirectly. The main revenue sources of Apple are from its electronic gadgets(iphone, Mac, iPad, wearables) and services on the other hand Facebook profits majorly from its advertising.
Though both the tech giants' expertise in different fields, what made them enter the same battlefield?
Well, we will need to dig a little deeper. Having said that both the tech giants’ revenue sources don’t overlap, their thought process behind their business model certainly does. Apple has always been considered as the most secure device which certainly protects your privacy and provides you security, contradictory Facebook ads have been giving options of personalized ads and targeted advertising to its clients without knowing what data has been captured to its users. Apple’s culture is about empowering customers, while Facebook’s culture tends towards exploiting users. Here lie the conflicting thoughts and that’s what this skirmish is about. Apple’s new iOS 14 policy has been hurting Facebook as it plans to strike at the core of Facebook’s business model.
The battle has been heated up lately but the seeds were sown back in June 2020.
In June 2020 Apple announced a feature that will be added in the future update of IOS 14 called ATT (App Tracking Transparency), this feature is delineated such that it will give a choice to the user to disable tracking between the apps. App developers will entail taking your permission before tracking one’s data across apps and websites. One will be able to get the information about which app tracks whichever data. This is where Facebook comes into the landscape. Facebook personalized and targeted advertising uses the App Tracking feature to hit the bullseye by targeting the right customers. IOS 14 updates will give the choice to the user if he/she wants to allow ATT or not. Fearing that shedload users will disable this feature, Facebook ads targeted advertising feature won’t be able to hit at the center on the dart of the customers.
This feature will influence an estimated 900 million Monthly Active Users as from 2.6 billion active users of Facebook 900 Million have IOS devices.
This debate has been piping hot with both the MNC’s ratiocinating and backing their arguments over the other.
So which side holds true?
Let’s examine the vindication of both the tech giants.
This full-page ad was published by Facebook in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post print in order to counterblow Apple.
Facebook is speaking up for small businesses. Apple’s new iOS 14 policy will hurt many small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat and on the free internet that we all rely on more than ever. Here is an overview of what Apple is doing and where Facebook stands:
- Apple is creating a policy — enforced via iOS 14’s AppTrackingTransparency — that’s about profit, not privacy. It will force businesses to turn to subscriptions and other in-app payments for revenue, meaning Apple will profit and many free services will have to start charging or exit the market.
- Apple is hurting small businesses and publishers who are already struggling in a pandemic. These changes will directly affect their ability to use their advertising budgets efficiently and effectively. Facebook studies show, without personalized ads powered by their data, small businesses could see a cut of over 60% of website sales from ads.
- Apple is not playing by its own rules. Apple’s own personalized ad platform isn’t subject to the new iOS 14 policy.
- We disagree with Apple’s approach, yet Facebook has no choice but to show their prompt. If Facebook doesn’t, it will face retaliation from Apple, which could only further harm the businesses we want to support.
Facebook believes that personalized ads and user privacy can coexist, without the collateral damage iOS 14 will bring. Facebook, and others in the industry, are investing deeply in solutions that increase privacy while still enabling businesses to thrive online.
The Reality Behind Apple’s Policy: It’s More About Profit Than Privacy
Apple tax: If content creators have to turn to ways to make money outside of advertising, such as charging people for a subscription or in-app payments, those fees are subject to an Apple tax ranging from 15% to 30%. And this is big business: as Apple’s hardware sales are slowing and Apple have to pivot to their services business, its App Store platform grossed around $50 billion in 2019.
Apple’s advertising business: Apple’s policies leave very limited options for app developers to find customers through effective advertising, and conveniently, Apple’s advertising products is one of them. That’s right, Apple’s personalized ad platform is exempt from the new prompt requirement they’ve imposed on other companies.
This was Facebook’s retaliation over Apple’s policy on its IOS 14 update. You can click here to catch sight of the whole article on Facebook.
Apple
Apple, on the other hand, is a staunch supporter of promoting the privacy and security of its users. Apple hit back stating — “When invasive tracking is your business model, you tend not to welcome transparency and customer choice.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook has now pitched in his opinion about this whole issue with a tweet where he said that Facebook is welcome to keep tracking its users, but they should take permission first.
In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple says that “We believe that this is a simple matter of standing up for our users. Users should know when their data is being collected and shared across other apps and websites — and they should have the choice to allow that or not. App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 does not require Facebook to change its approach to tracking users and creating targeted advertising, it simply requires they give users a choice.”
Furthermore, Apple emphasizes that the new tracking control features apply to all developers equally, including Apple itself. The company continues to point out that advertising is still possible even with the new App Tracking Transparency feature, with the purpose being to give users more control over their data by requiring explicit consent.
Conclusion
With both litigants on a vendetta with each other, experts believe that there would be no winner in this battleground.
Facebook coming up with a hoodwink argument on the disruption of small businesses but the company knows that in a long run Apple’s policy will affect its business model, as revenue from Facebook ads contributes to 99% of the total revenue made by the company.
On the other hand, there are speculations over Apple that it is trying to deviate the attention from its Antitrust case by promoting the security and privacy of its users.
Espousing either of the tech giants is one’s conscious intent or volition. A Small businessman owner would like to have personalized and targeted marketing to increase the visibility and revenue of his/her business and on the other hand, I wonder if he/she would readily agree on permitting to track him/her across apps and websites owned by other companies.
