SAN RAMON, Calif .– Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, fired a series of thinly disguised photos on Facebook and other social media companies on Thursday, escalating an online privacy battle that saw the iPhone maker face off against digital services that rely on tracking. people to sell ads.
“Too many people still ask the question ‘how much can we get away with?’ when we should ask ‘what are the consequences?’ “Cook said. What are the consequences of not only tolerating but rewarding content that undermines public confidence in lifesaving vaccinations? What are the consequences if thousands of users join extremist groups and then maintain an algorithm?” that recommends more? “
Speaking at a virtually held international conference on computing, privacy and data protection, Cook said it is “time to stop pretending that this approach doesn’t come at a cost – of polarization, lost trust, and yes, violence.”
Cook never specifically mentioned Facebook FB,
or another company. But his comments left little doubt that his missives targeted the social media sites criticized for enabling conspiracy theories, hate speech, and political misinformation that culminated in the January 6 uprising that overtook the Capitol as Congress convened. to confirm the elections. from President Joe Biden.
“A social dilemma must not become a social disaster,” added Cook, referring to a Netflix documentary about the corrosive effects of technology – and especially social media – on society. That movie focused on Facebook and how its algorithms manipulate its nearly 3 billion users to get them to watch the ads that generate most of its revenue.
Cook’s broadside came as Apple AAPL,
is preparing to roll out a new privacy check in early spring to stop iPhone apps from secretly shadowing people. That puts the feature on track to come out after a delay of more than six months, aimed at calming down Facebook and other digital services that rely on such data monitoring to help sell ads.
While Apple hasn’t given a specific date, the general timetable announced Thursday means that the highly anticipated security known as App Tracking Transparency will be part of an iPhone software update likely to arrive in late March or sometime in April.
After delaying the security’s planned release in September amid a Facebook-led outrage, Apple had previously said it would come out early this year. Apple has released the latest update to the schedule as part of Data Privacy Day.
Apple paused to give Facebook and other app makers more time to adapt to a feature that requires iPhone users to give their explicit permission to be tracked. Analysts expect a significant number of users to decline that consent as soon as it requires their consent. Currently, iPhone users are often tracked by apps they install unless they take the extra step of going to iPhone settings to avoid it.
“Technology doesn’t need a huge wealth of personal data aggregated across dozens of websites and apps to succeed,” said Cook. “Advertising has existed and thrived without it for decades.”
In addition to Cook’s comments, Apple also released an 11-page report to show just how much apps can learn about their users in everyday life.
Facebook last month stepped up its attacks on Apple’s new privacy control in a series of full-page ads in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other national newspapers. That campaign suggested that some free digital services will be hindered if they can’t collect personal information to customize ads. On Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg questioned Apple’s motives for the changes, saying the iPhone maker “has all the incentive” to use its own mobile platform to thwart rivals for its own messaging app.
“Apple may say they are doing this to help people, but the steps clearly follow their competitive interests,” said Zuckerberg.
The GOOGL of the alphabet,
GOOG,
Google, which also relies on personal data to power the Internet’s largest ad network, has not joined Facebook in its criticism of Apple’s upcoming scrutiny of tracking. Google benefits from being the default search engine on the iPhone, a valued position for which it pays Apple an estimated $ 9 billion to $ 12 billion annually.
But Google warned in a blog post on Wednesday that Apple’s new controls will have a significant impact on the iPhone ad revenue of other apps on its digital network. Google said a “handful” of its own iPhone apps will be affected by the new requirement, but plans to make changes so that they are not affected by Apple’s new controls. It did not identify which apps.
“We remain committed to maintaining a vibrant and open app ecosystem where people can access a wide variety of ad-supported content with the confidence that their privacy and choices are respected,” wrote Christophe Combette, group product manager for Google Ads.