Mark Zuckerberg blames Apple for Facebook’s poor financials
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework is to blame for the social media giant reporting lower than expected growth in this year’s third quarter.
Apple’s ATT framework gives users the ability to choose whether to grant permission to apps to track their activity in other apps and websites.
ATT was first introduced in iOS 14.5 and has since been included with all newer versions of iOS and iPadOS.
The data gained by Facebook tracking a user’s activity allows them to show targeted advertising based on which advertisements most align with a user’s activity.
Zuckerberg also said that Apple’s new privacy policies are not only harming Facebook, but also the small businesses that use Facebook as a platform for marketing.
“As expected, we did experience revenue headwinds this quarter, including from Apple’s changes that are not only negatively affecting our business, but millions of small businesses in what is already a difficult time for them in the economy,” Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg stated that this might be an opportunity to change the way the platform manages advertising and e-commerce.
“Solutions that allow businesses to set up shop right inside our apps will become increasingly attractive,” Zuckerberg said.
Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg criticised Apple and its new privacy policies, claiming that they harm Facebook while also directly aiding Apple’s own advertising business.
“The biggest is the impact of Apple’s iOS14 changes, which have created headwinds for others in the industry as well, major challenges for small businesses, and advantaged Apple’s own advertising business.”
Apple posted a video to its YouTube channel after the release of ATT, stating, “some apps have trackers embedded in them that are taking more data than they need. Sharing it with third parties, like advertisers and data brokers…”
“This has been happening without your knowledge or permission. Your information is for sale. You have become the product.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook has spoken out against Facebook in the past.
“If a business is built on misleading users, on data exploitation, on choices that are no choices at all, then it does not deserve our praise. It deserves reform.” Cook said.
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