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Zuckerberg now says Apple's new privacy policy for iOS 14 could benefit Facebook

Zuckerberg, who has criticised Apple's privacy changes in the past has noted that Facebook could benefit from Apple's privacy changes and noted that the company will be able to "manage through" and that the company will be in a "good position."

(Picture: Reuters)

Highlights

  • Zuckerberg noted that Facebook could be in a stronger position if Apple’s changes encourage more businesses to conduct business through Facebook.
  • He said that Facebook could benefit from the changes and that the company will manage through.
  • Zuckerberg has earlier called Apple one of its biggest competitors and urged users to accept tracking "for a better ad experience."

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, for the longest time, has criticised Apple's new privacy policy that requires apps to take an iPhone user's consent to track them for ads. The feature called App Tracking Transparency is slated to release for all users with iOS 14. Zuckerberg has earlier called Apple one of its biggest competitors and urged users to accept tracking when they do see the privacy notification with the iOS update "for a better ad experience."

Now, the Facebook CEO seems to have accepted Apple's privacy changes for iOS 14 and has said that Facebook could benefit from the changes and noted that the company will be able to manage through and that the company will be in a good position.

"It's possible that we may even be in a stronger position if Apple's changes encourage more businesses to conduct more commerce on our platforms by making it harder for them to use their data in order to find the customers that would want to use their products outside of our platforms," Zuckerberg said in a Clubhouse room on Thursday, CNBC reported.

Apple's upcoming privacy changes are based on a unique device identifier on every iPhone and iPad called identifier for advertisers or IDFA. "On iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14, apps will be required to receive user permission to track users across apps or websites owned by other companies, or to access the device's advertising identifier," Apple had noted in a developer update last year.


It has not been long since Facebook published a full-page newspaper ad in the US targeting Apple's future iOS update noting that the new iOS update would "limit businesses' ability to run personalized ads and reach their customers effectively." Meanwhile, Apple has started prompting iPhone users in India and elsewhere for certain apps that need to track you across other apps and websites.

In its newspaper ad, Facebook has alleged that without personalized ads, "the average small business advertiser stands to see a cut of over 60 percent in their sales for every dollar they spend". Facebook had also notified its users through several blog posts and notifications of how badly iOS 14's update will affect advertisers, publishers, and developers.

Tim Cook in a tweet had addressed Facebook concerns noting that Apple is standing up for people who use their devices."App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 does not require Facebook to change its approach to tracking users and creating targeted advertising, it simply requires they give users a choice," Cook had written.