Facebook resisted Apple’s planned launch of anti-tracking tools in each possible opportunity, but now the social media giant seems to be changing your tone in a last-ditch effort to save the face. On Thursday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook may actually be in a “stronger position” after privacy updates for iOS and is optimistic about how the company will cope with this change, according to CNBC and CNET.
“The reality is that I am confident that we will be able to manage this situation well and will be in a good position,” he said in a Clubhouse room on Thursday for points of sale.
With Apple’s planned privacy updates for iOS 14, which are scheduled to launch sometime this spring, the company aims to give iOS users more transparency and control over their data, asking for permission before apps can track their activities in other apps and on the web.
Facebook did not like this idea very much, since approximately 98% of your revenue stream it depends on targeted ads, which are built around monitoring a person’s browsing habits. The company launched a campaign to convince people that personalized ads are good, in fact, which so far has involved removing full page ads in several major newspapers to condemn Apple and execute a video ad claiming that Apple’s privacy updates are killing small businesses for not giving Facebook and other apps a free rein to collect their data.
(As you may have already suspected, Facebook’s claims was found to be misleading at best, and selfish propaganda at worst. While advertising may become a little more difficult for small businesses and developers with Apple’s new updates, Facebook can accept the biggest revenue hit, not the small ones.)
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Now, however, with Apple updates approaching the horizon, Facebook is apparently adopting a new strategy: corn cob. Aka, continue to embarrass To yourself instead of admitting to being brutally possessed.
On Thursday, Zuckerberg reiterated concerns that Apple’s decision could still hurt small businesses and developers, but also expressed hope that Facebook could benefit from the situation, CNBC and CNET report.
“It is possible that we may be in a stronger position if Apple’s changes encourage more companies to do more trade on our platforms, making it more difficult for them to use their data to find customers who would like to use their products outside of our platforms” , he said.
This is a far cry from the gloomy image that Facebook painted before. In August 2020, the company warned that Apple’s updates could lead to a drop of more than 50% in its advertising business Audience Network, which allows mobile software developers to personalize ads based on Facebook data. Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Wehner also expressed concern this could hinder the social network’s ability to target ads to users effectively.
Apple and Facebook did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment. Apple has repeatedly defended its planned privacy updates against Facebook’s accusations, arguing that these new features are not completely eliminating targeted ads, but giving users a chance to cancel if they wish.