Highlights
- Facebook is now urging its iPhone and iPad users to let the social media giant track their activities.
- Users will be greeted with a prompt that will tell them that if they provide access to Facebook to track their activities.
- Facebook and Apple have been on loggerheads ever since Apple rolled out a new software update that lets users know about how much data an app collects from them.
In a bid to counter Apple's new privacy policies, Facebook is now urging its iPhone and iPad users to let the social media giant track their activities. They want to know about their users' activities because they want to show them personalised ads based on their social media activities. However, users can reject the request as that would stop the social media giant from sharing personalized ads.
"As we shared in December, we disagree with Apple's approach but will be showing their prompt to ensure stability for the businesses and people who use our services. Apple's new prompt suggests a tradeoff between personalised advertising and privacy; when, in fact, we can and do provide both. The Apple prompt also provides no context about the benefits of personalised ads," Facebook said in a blog.
Users will be greeted with a prompt that will tell them that if they provide access to Facebook to track their activities, they will send them personalised ads. Facebook emphasised that small businesses grow only through ads. The prompt will only appear for Apple users. If they decide to opt-out, Facebook will face difficulty sharing the ads.
However, it is important to note that when Facebook says that it wants to track the users' activities, it will not only track the activities of users on Facebook but outside the app as well. So the user needs to remember that when you are giving access to Facebook to track your activities, it will track what sites are you visiting, what products you are browsing, and then show you ads based on your search.
"If you accept the prompts for Facebook and Instagram, the ads you see on those apps won't change. If you decline, you will still see ads, but they will be less relevant to you. Agreeing to these prompts doesn't result in Facebook collecting new types of data. It just means that we can continue to give people better experiences. We feel that people deserve the additional context, and Apple has said that providing education is allowed," the blog said.
Facebook and Apple have been on loggerheads ever since Apple rolled out a new software update that lets users know about how much data an app collects from them. The social media giant has strongly voiced its opinion against Apple. Facebook has alleged that it hampers the small businesses that flourish through ads on their platform.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during an earnings call, alleged that Apple's latest privacy update is to boost its own products and services. He further said that Apple's iMessage is a threat to WhatsApp. Mark has said that Apple "every incentive to use their dominant platform position to interfere with how our apps and other apps work."
However, reacting to allegations made by Facebook, Apple CEO Tim Cook said, "Technology does not need vast troves of personal data stitched together across dozens of websites and apps in order to succeed. Advertising existed and thrived for decades without it, and we're here today because the path of least resistance is rarely the path of wisdom. We should not look away from the bigger picture and a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theory is juiced by algorithms. We can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement, the longer, the better, and all with the goal of collecting as much data as possible."