Apple moves to block Facebook tracking

Apple has revealed plans to prevent Facebook from using data tracking to follow users around the web.

The company’s software chief Craig Federighi showed off the new anti-tracking feature at its annual World Wide Developers Conference conference in San Jose, California, last night.

“We’ve all seen these like buttons and share buttons and these comment fields,” Federighi said. “Well it turns out these can be used to track you, whether you click on them or not. We’re shutting that down.” 

The new feature, which will be available in the next version of Apple’s iOS and Mac operating systems, will prompt users to decide whether they will allow Facebook to use cookies and other data while browsing.

Apple’s move against Facebook “is likely to add to tensions between the two companies”, says the BBC.