Apple and Facebook will need each other in the long run as billions of people want their social media apps to work well on their phones and tablets. But first, the two California tech giants must settle a brawl that takes place in newspaper ads, industry meetings, and possibly a federal court.
Facebook released its second full-page newspaper ad in as many days on Thursday, attacking Apple’s plans to tell iPhone and iPad users when apps follow them online.
“Apple plans to release a forced software update that will change the Internet as we know it – for the worse,” Facebook said in the ad.
It is a tough and unusually personal battle between two companies that have profound influence. Central to the battle is how the ad-dependent part of the internet will work in the coming years.
In the coming weeks, Apple plans to roll out a new feature on its devices that will alert people when an app like Facebook tries to “ track your activity in other companies’ apps and websites. ” People have options such as ‘Ask app not to track’ or ‘Allow’.
“Users need to know when their data is being collected and shared with other apps and websites – and they should be able to choose whether or not to allow it,” Apple said in a statement. “App tracking transparency in iOS 14 doesn’t require Facebook to change its approach to user tracking and targeted ad creation, it just requires them to give users a choice.”
For Facebook, the possibility that many people will not allow tracking is one of the data streams that make their ad business so lucrative. Facebook uses data such as browsing history to show people ads they want to see before and to prove to marketers that the ads work.
“Apple’s move is not about privacy, but about profit,” Facebook said in a statement. It argues that Apple would benefit from more of the internet being subscription-based, as Apple collects commissions through its app store.
The two companies, with their headquarters 15 minutes’ drive from each other, have been circling each other cautiously for years. Apple CEO Tim Cook has accused Facebook of “collecting large amounts of personal data,” while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has fired back by calling iPhones an expensive product for the world’s elite, not the masses. Facebook encourages its employees to use competing Android devices.
Last year, Apple caused temporary confusion at Facebook headquarters by cutting off Facebook employees’ access to internal Facebook company apps running on iPhones. Apple had determined that Facebook was falsely paying teens and others for their smartphone data.
The companies have radically different business models. Facebook made $ 70 billion from advertising last year, almost its sole source of income. Ad sales make up a small portion of Apple’s $ 275 billion annual revenue, which comes primarily from device sales and app store commissions.
Apple has said the new tracking notifications will appear in early 2021. Privacy groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation support them.
But Facebook is making a last-ditch effort to convince Apple to back down or compromise with industry standards. With offline ads in newspapers such as The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, the social networking company is trying to side with the millions of small businesses buying ads on Facebook and Instagram.
The latest ad, Thursday, states that free online publishers won’t be able to survive if Apple gets its way unless the publishers charge for subscriptions – which Apple may get a discount on thanks to the rules in the app store.
“Take your favorite cooking sites or sports blogs. Most are free because they show ads,” Facebook said in its ad. “Apple’s change limits their ability to show personalized ads. To make ends meet, many will have subscription fees charge or add more in-app purchases, making the internet much more expensive and reducing free, high-quality content. “
Facebook has raised the prospect of anti-trust action. It said in a blog post that it was committed to providing information to a federal court in an ongoing lawsuit against Apple brought by Epic Games, which is seeking to lower the fees it pays through the Apple App Store.
“We believe Apple is acting anti-competitive by using their control over the App Store to improve their bottom line at the expense of app developers and small businesses. We will continue to look for ways to address this problem, ”said Facebook.
Facebook fights anti-trust lawsuits from states and the Federal Trade Commission, and both Zuckerberg and Cook have been likened to “emperors.”
For now, Apple is sticking to its notification tracking plans and points to a long track record of advocating for online privacy.
“We believe this is a simple matter of standing up for our users,” said Apple.