sELDOM TEM one tech giant criticized another like Apple did Facebook. “What are the consequences of prioritizing conspiracy theories and violent incitement simply because of their high rates of engagement?” asked Apple chief Tim Cook in a January 28 speech. “A social dilemma,” he thundered, “cannot become a social catastrophe.” Facebook was highlighted without being named. Last year, she complained about her representation in “The Social Dilemma”, a successful documentary from Netflix.
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Cook’s warning came in response to Facebook’s own attacks against Apple’s next “application tracking transparency” measure. Soon, an Apple pop-up will begin asking users of the latest version of iONLY, your mobile operating system, if you want named apps like Facebook to track your digital activity on other companies ’apps and websites. A large number are expected to object. This is likely to hurt Facebook, possibly Google and a wide range of other advertising technology companies.
Cook’s fair ire makes it easy to forget how, in the early days, Apple enabled ad tracking. In the 2000s, application developers and advertisers learned to use their “unique device identifiers” to track users on the Internet. These YOU DIDs, as they were soon known, were permanently connected to each iPhone or iPad and made it easy to keep track of individuals’ online activities. Then, in 2010, a furor of privacy exploded around Apple and Google. Two years later, Apple responded by banning application developers from using YOU DIDs. For a few months, advertisers were barely able to track their customers.
The sixth incarnation of iONLY introduced a new, less intrusive tool called “identifiers for advertisers”. Instead YOU DIDs, they can be blocked and do not personally identify users; any data collected is aggregated before being used. But they still allow tracking, which is enabled by default on iPhones and can be disabled in a complicated way. Apple’s goal at that time was to help application developers earn revenue on iONLY.
Now privacy is more important than ever for the Apple brand. Four years ago, it stopped tracking users on Safari, its browser. Google also announced plans to eliminate third-party tracking cookies from its Chrome browser by 2022. Members of the advertising industry find it strange that identifiers for advertisers still exist; Last year, some in the mobile ad industry thought Apple would kill them. With application tracking transparency, at least some users will allow cookies to remain.
However, Facebook struggled a lot. In December, the social network ran ads in newspapers claiming that Apple’s changes would hurt small businesses. Announcing Facebook profits on January 27, Mark Zuckerberg, his boss, explained how his company offers small businesses ad targeting tools that in the past only large companies had the resources to employ. This echoed warnings from other types of ad-tech about a return to a spray and pay world where, again, half of all ads are wasted, but no one knows which half. In addition, Facebook argues, Apple is trying to change the Internet business model from an ad-based model to an increasingly paid one. In this view, Apple’s stance on privacy is not altruistic, but selfish.
Facebook’s campaign against Apple may go beyond public warnings. Last month, rumors emerged that Zuckerberg’s company could sue the iPhone maker for alleged preferential treatment of its own apps on its App Store, while imposing restrictions on third-party developers like Facebook. The Apple App Store is already being examined by the United States Department of Justice and the European Union’s competition watchdog.
Of course, Facebook’s own protests are not exactly disinterested. He may want to divert attention away from the antitrust lawsuits he faces. And the company is likely to hit its bill with Apple’s move. In late January, he appointed the last iONLY changes as an obstacle to your advertising business this year.
Most people will accept Apple’s privacy proposal. But its ability to impose it on a large industry has underlined its power in a way that may not be entirely useful to it. As for Facebook, your task now is to create your own pop-up to reassure people that your ad tracking is harmless – even for the most talented ad creative, a difficult briefing. ■
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition with the title “Cook v Zuck”