In an investor call, which Mark Zuckerberg posted the transcript for on his Facebook page, he mentions that he is still upset about Apple’s privacy policy changes saying that it is “negatively affecting” Facebook’s business. He also says that “millions of small businesses” are affected by the change.
This is not the first time Facebook has criticised Apple for its changes. In late 2020, Facebook said that Apple’s anti-tracking change in iOS 14 would be a “harmful impact on many small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat and on the free internet that we all rely on more than ever”.
But Apple has also seized an opportunity earlier to criticise Facebook—saying that the social network intends to “collect as much data as possible” on its users. The statement was written in an open letter regarding the delay of iOS 14’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature—which lets users choose between “Allow Tracking” or “Ask App Not To Track”. While the anti-tracking feature is something I appreciate for giving me a peace of mind as I use my device, Facebook hasn’t been happy about it.
“As expected, we did experience revenue headwinds this quarter, including from Apple’s changes that are not only negatively affecting our business, but millions of small businesses in what is already a difficult time for them in the economy,” said Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg also mentioned that Apple’s changes “make e-commerce and customer acquisition less effective on the web”. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who also participated in the same call, mentioned that the iOS privacy changes “advantaged Apple’s own advertising business”.
However, Facebook has also been accused of prioritising profit—as stated by whistleblower Frances Haugen. According to Haugen, she said that she noticed “conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook”.
Recently, CEO Evan Spiegel of Snap, the company behind Snapchat, said that Apple’s privacy changes are also affecting Snap’s ad business revenue. The change caused them to earn USD 3 million (RM12.4 million) less than what they expected this quarter.
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