By Melissa Cox
Your commercial awareness dose
Earlier this year, Apple announced that they will be making big changes to privacy regarding data usage, specifically data usage for targeted advertisement. These updates are due to be released with an updated version of IOS 14 early 2021. The new update will bring the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), which is used to help apps to use your data to create personalised ads, right in the face of iPhone users. However, there has been an onslaught of criticism over the update, Facebook being one of the most avid protesters over the situation.
With the new update, when users open an app that wants to use data for personalised ads, a pop-up window will appear asking something like, “_____ would like permission to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies, Allow/Do not allow?” This allows users to control whether they allow their data to be tracked or not for the sake of personalised advertisements. If users choose to opt-out of providing apps with their data, then the app will be blocked from doing so, compared to having no choice to accept or possibly not even knowing that they were being tracked across apps and websites.
Since Apple announced these upcoming updates this summer, there has been a lot of confusion, disagreement and uncertainty for businesses and app developers. Many developers did not know about the IDFA, so now are finding It hard to alter their apps to be compatible with Apple’s new IOS privacy update. Developers have also complained that there has been almost no explanations or guidance in terms of changing apps to suit the update. The update was originally due to release this September, but because of developers protests, it has been pushed back to early 2021.
Apple has made it hard for developers to try and get around the new policy, as they will not allow for apps to do things such as enable access to the user only if they have consented for their data to be tracked. It has also been announced that apps that do not follow the new update or try to breach the rules by tracking users without permission, will be removed from the app store altogether.
Facebook has been at the forefront of protests against the new IOS privacy update, expressing their concerns about how the new update could affect small businesses that rely on personalised advertisements. Facebook has accused Apple of being anti-competitive, claiming Apple is trying to push paid apps on the app store, where Apple takes a 30 per cent cut of the profits. Facebook released a series of ads on the situations, online and offline, declaring, “We’re standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere.”
Facebook has also been publishing in the ads that their data, “shows that the average small business advertiser stands to see a cut over 60% in their sales for every dollar they spend.” They have also begun showing banners on their own apps such as Facebook ads, warning of the new IOS update and how it will affect advertisers. Some believe that Facebook is attempting at riling up a popular opinion to pressure Apple to not go through with the update release.
Apple has denied all claims of anticompetitive behaviour, as Apple’s CEO Tim Cook stated on Twitter that, “We believe users should have the choice over the data that is being collected about them and how it’s used.” Apple is not the only company tightening its privacy policies, Google has been recently looking into removing support for third-party cookies on their browser, Chrome. Companies are now more inclined to invest in contextual targeting, where the environment, rather than the user themselves, are being tracked by advertisers.
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