Lately, Facebook and Apple have been involved in various clashes. Their frequency has also accelerated. Yesterday another episode is still in development. What’s happening? Why is there this conflict between the two giants?
The answer behind the scenes lies in a battle of ecosystems, customers and transparency in business models. Let’s see what it is.
The trigger: an ad in various newspapers
Yesterday, Facebook ran the same ad in three of the major US newspapers. he New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal They ran this ad (via The Verge), which is still ironic (Facebook isn’t exactly a friend of newspapers).
This is a long announcement, so we will summarize your keys here:
- Facebook claims that more than 10 million SMEs use its advertising tools every month.
- It helps them find new customers and connect with their community.
- Personalized ads are key to reaching them, especially given the pandemic.
- Apple wants to force an update that will limit the use of personalized ads, preventing small businesses from reaching their customers.
- While this will affect Facebook, the real losers are SMEs.
Apple was quick to respond with your own, more concise statement. It’s collected below, also from The Verge:
We believe it is simply a matter of defending the interests of our users. Users need to know when their data is being collected and shared among other apps and websites, with the option to allow it or not. The transparency of app tracking in iOS 14 doesn’t require Facebook to change its user tracking and ad targeting, you just need to give them a choice.
Of course, these are two very interesting perspectives. But before entering to evaluate them, there is a key aspect to take into account: who’s whose client.
Who is the Facebook and Apple customer
In the background, the two companies defend the interests of their clients. The problem is who these customers are. Apple’s case is quite straightforward: its customers pay for its devices and services. Usually, this is the end user. Individuals who decide to buy an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac for themselves. That is to say, user and client are the same person you buy the Apple product.
The case of Facebook is very different. The aphorism “if you don’t pay for the product, you are the product” is very old fashioned, but turn on the light because the Facebook client is not obvious. Yet you tell us in your ad: Facebook customers are the companies that pay to advertise.
Apple has a direct business model, selling products to users; Facebook, on the other hand, sells a service to advertisers to reach a third party, the social network user
Big or small, they are the ones who call on their services reach Facebook users. Companies pay to access the social network and be able to contact their users in a super-segmented way. This is Facebook’s product: accessing an audience.
Apple’s business model is simple. The customer pays and receives a product in return. Facebook is a triangle, since the advertiser pays the social network a service to have the authorization to communicate with a third party. Apple has a direct relationship with its customers, Facebook uses a third party. This makes the social network not as honest as it can be with the way your data is used.
Apple transparency measures
“Privacy is that people know what they are targeting.” Ten years ago Steve Jobs said this phrase at the D8 conference of the publication All Things Digital, which no longer exists. Since then, Apple has followed this guideline with its products and services.
The company’s measures to ensure transparency in the use of its users’ data has taken a big step forward with iOS 14. Starting with iOS 14.3, the App Store discloses the data that an application collects from its users. in a section called tags. confidentiality. It does this in the app file, almost at the end of it, in a section called “App Privacy”. Facebook can be seen in the following video:
Now Apple is forcing developers to detail ALL the data they collect from users with their apps.
This is what the Facebook privacy tab looks like 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/gLHahaPvrw
– Eduardo Archanco (@eaala) December 16, 2020
This is a menu that lists in detail the metrics that the developer uses to track your users and use their data. We find sections like contact information, user and device IDs, purchase history, physical location, email address and a long etc. But that’s not all. The real problem for Facebook comes from the following dialogue:
When opening an app for the first time, users should grant the usual permissions it needs. A future update of iOS 14, delayed since its release, will add new permission like the one in the screenshot above. In this document, users must decide whether or not to allow the app to track our activity on other apps and websites. The developer has the opportunity to explain there and on previous screens what the tracking is for.
If your business model suffers from transparency, that’s your problem
Apple has exposed apps like Facebook that use user data with both initiatives. That is to say, ensures transparency so that the user is aware of what there is. And that gives you the power to restrict that tracking if you want to.
René Ritchie made it clear yesterday in a Tweeter: “If your business model suffers from transparency, it’s not a good business model.” In other words, if Facebook suffers when the data it collects from its users is exposed, It’s Facebook’s problem, not Apple’s.
The social network intends to frame this conflict in the ongoing assault on the App Store. Claiming that this is a hostile move against store developers to collect more profit per commission. Reason why Facebook will help Epic Games in his legal fight against Apple.
From 9to5Mac, they gathered brief statements from Apple in which it said the company “does not object to ad tracking.” He just wants it to be “transparent to the user”.
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