Apple will roll out an update Monday, April 26, that will let iPhone users choose whether to “accept” or “reject” each mobile application being tracked. The move could have a profound impact on the advertising ecosystem ruled by Facebook and Google.
AFP reported from San Francisco on April 25 that two models are clashing in Silicon Valley: the electronics giant (Apple) sells smartphones, tablets and computers at high prices, while its two neighbors (Facebook and Google) offer free services in exchange for data on Internet users, which is used to send targeted ads to people on a large scale.
This dominant economic model has long been criticized by civil society (associations, academia, etc.) and is periodically challenged by law (Europe and California) or by lesser-known companies.
With one billion active iPhones worldwide, the Apple brand is seen as having the power to change people’s habits.
Choosing “yes” or “no”
In fact, since last September, Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS, app publishers have been able to collect and use data from users, with their consent, by tracking them through various websites and apps they visit and use. But this feature is not a mandatory obligation.
With the launch of iOS 14.5, the mobile operating system this week, the above-mentioned feature, known as ATT (App Tracking Transparency), will become “mandatory”.
Specifically, each app will open with a “consent” window. If the user clicks “no” or the window does not appear, for whatever reason, the app will lose access to the person’s ad ID (which is a unique number that allows for online tracking).
Facebook is not happy
In a blog post, independent analyst Eric Seufert noted that Apple’s privacy policy will “upend the entire economics of apps, even digital advertising. It fundamentally changes the way mobile ads are currently measured and targeted based on Apple tracking (……) . Many platforms and apps are concerned that when Apple users are faced with a choice, most will say no.
Facebook does not accept this approach from Apple. Facebook has begun defending “personalized ads” with a marketing campaign that has included full-page ads in U.S. newspapers, testimonials from “vendors” on an ad hoc website, and pointed statements from its founder, Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg asserted at the end of January (during a meeting with analysts on the group’s annual results) that “this action by Apple is anti-competitive” because “many small and medium-sized businesses will no longer be able to target their customers with personalized ads. He added, “Apple may say they’re doing this to help people, but it’s clearly for their own benefit.
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