After the launch of iOS 14.5 yesterday, Apple added a new function to this and other systems within what they call App Tracking Transparency. This new functionality has a lot to do with user privacy, being very positive a priori for everyone. However there are some developers certainly concerned about this functionality. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, is one of them.
What does this functionality really do?
We live in a time in which our personal data is one of the main claims among companies, being the most valuable asset they have to be able to send us their product or service. Surely on more than one occasion you have been surprised that advertising appears for a product that you were just talking about in another totally different application and that many times it is not even from the same company. This is just one example of what a priori should not be a negative thing, since personalized advertising is also beneficial for the consumer himself.
It should be noted that these data are also often used to improve the service, although the fact that they are sold on many occasions to external companies can backtrack. Therefore, it is also fully understandable that as users we want to reject this tracking. And precisely based on all this is why Apple has implemented this new privacy measure, which forces app developers to ask the user for permission to track them. The user may or may not accept it later. If it is rejected, that application will not be able to use our browsing data outside of it, although within it.
This worries Facebook a lot
We have already commented on other occasions about the tug of war between Apple and Facebook. The fact that the apple firm is betting on privacy seems to fully affect a company like Facebook that in recent times has not exactly had a good image when it comes to this matter. Selling personal data to third parties without your consent or even massive password leaks are just two examples of the many controversies surrounding the company led by Mark Zuckerberg.
Its CEO has been extremely critical of Apple in light of everything that has been implemented in privacy since the launch of iOS 14. From the tab with the data accessed by each app visible in the App Store to this App Tracking Transparency . Zuckerberg has charged hard against Apple for this claiming that it was abusing its dominant position in the market, preventing small businesses from growing. Yes, “small businesses”, that Facebook recorded more than 85,000 million dollars in revenue in 2020 seems to have brought out the altruistic and righteous side of Mark.
In fact, Facebook has come to denounce Apple for this alleged monopoly, something that will be judged in court and that represents another front for the company if we add any of the lawsuits that are being brought against it and other large companies for similar accusations . Among those other companies on trial, by the way, is Facebook. The fact is that the company of the great social network is endangering its dangerous business system based precisely on advertising and the illegal sale of data to third parties, so in the end its concern is even understandable.
Time and the judges will determine who is right in this battle. Apple for its part does not seem to cease in its efforts to ensure that the users of its devices can have the greatest possible power over their data, being one of the most transparent companies in this regard. Surely iOS 15 will implement some other related novelty. Will they make Mr. Zuckerberg as bad as the latter?