People At Facebook Are Freaking Out Because Apple Is Going To Start Telling Users When Apps Are Tracking Their Location

Source - Apple and Facebook are going to need each other in the long run, because billions of people want their social media apps to work well on their phones and tablets. But first, the two California tech giants need to settle a brawl that’s playing out in newspaper ads, industry meetings and potentially federal court.

Facebook on Thursday ran its second full-page newspaper advertisement in as many days, attacking Apple's plans to tell iPhone and iPad users when apps are tracking them online.

“Apple plans to roll out a forced software update that will change the internet as we know it — for the worse,” Facebook said in the ad.

In the next few weeks, Apple is planning to roll out a new feature on its devices that will alert people when an app such as Facebook is trying to “track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites.” People will have options such as “Ask App not to Track” or “Allow.”

“Users should know when their data is being collected and shared across other apps and websites — and they should have the choice to allow that or not,” Apple said in a statement. “App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 does not require Facebook to change its approach to tracking users and creating targeted advertising, it simply requires they give users a choice.”

Who would've thought that the most valuable company on earth would be the moral compass when it comes to online privacy? Not me. Personally I don't care whether or not my location is tracked, I want my apps to perform to best of their ability at all times, but I get why people do- it's creepy. Go into location services on your iPhone and there's a detailed map of everywhere you've been and how long you've been there down to the minute. That data is incredibly valuable to companies like Facebook who use it to customize ads for its users. Which is why they're against Apple giving people the option to shut off it off because if they do, Facebook will lose a boat load of money.

Here's what they had to say about the situation...

“Apple’s move isn’t about privacy, it’s about profit,” Facebook said in a statement. It argues that Apple stands to gain if more of the internet becomes subscription-based, because Apple collects commissions from its app store.

“We believe Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using their control of the App Store to benefit their bottom line at the expense of app developers and small businesses. We continue to explore ways to address this concern,” Facebook said.

Facebook is battling antitrust complaints from states and the Federal Trade Commission, and both Zuckerberg and Cook have been compared to “emperors.”

Apple, for now, is standing by its plans for tracking notifications and pointing to a long record of advocating for online privacy.

^^It's basically a he said she said dick measuring contest between the two companies, neither of which want to admit it's all about the money. They also have a history of fucking with each other over this kind of thing...

The two companies, headquartered a 15-minute drive apart, have been circling each other warily for years. Apple CEO Tim Cook has dinged Facebook for “collecting gobs 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 rival Android devices.

Last year, Apple caused temporary disarray at Facebook headquarters by shutting off Facebook employees’ access to internal Facebook corporate apps that run on iPhones. Apple had determined that Facebook improperly paid teenagers and others for their smartphone data.

Regardless of where you stand, I think we can all agree that it's hilarious that Facebook and Apple are taking out full page newspaper ads to get their point across. Seems a bit strange considering…they're Facebook and Apple. Oh well. As of right now Apple says it's going to set up the new tracking notifications for early 2021, so we'll have to wait and see what happens. You can read more of this story here. Have a great weekend.