What is App Tracking Transparency?
Apple first demonstrated the feature in 2020 at its annual developer conference WWDC. Many were skeptics and Apple gave developers – including Facebook – time to understand and get used to the idea. This feature was introduced last year and what it does is that it gives more control iPhone Users will get to know whether they want all apps to be tracked online by advertisers. Apple says it is the user and not the developer who should decide what data they get or share. App Tracking Transparency allows you to choose whether an app can track your activity on other companies’ apps and websites for the purpose of advertising or sharing with data brokers. “If you see a request to track your activity, you can tap Allow or Ask the app not to track. You can still use the full capabilities of the app, even if you allow the app to track your activity”, explains Apple.
What’s Facebook’s ‘problem’ with Apple and ATT?
Most apps use something called IDFA or Identifiers for advertisers. What IDFA does is that it uses random identifiers to deliver customized ads. Like you might have searched for “Vacation in the Hills” and you would suddenly see ads on the Internet related to hotels or other weekend getaways in the hills. It is IDFA that provides advertising to users and revenue to apps. This is data that Facebook and others use and it is a common business model. Facebook says IDFA helps understand this and how ad campaigns have performed now. It also helps a lot of small developers to generate revenue as it continues to be their biggest source of income. Apple argues that it is giving users a choice – if they want apps to track them they are welcome to do so. “We believe that users should have choice over the data being collected about them and how it is used. Facebook may continue to track users across all apps and websites as before, App Tracking transparency iOS 14 will just need to ask your permission first,” Apple CEO Tim Cook Said about the feature in December 2020.
How is Facebook hurting because of this?
Targeted advertising is a huge source of revenue for Facebook and ATT largely blocks this. A Financial Times report last year revealed that 90% of its revenue from Facebook comes from targeted ads. The report also stated that 80% of iPhone users opted not to be tracked by multiple apps including Facebook, Snap and others. That means a huge loss of revenue and just one major change Apple brought in the iPhones. A CNBC report quoted COO Sheryl Sandberg as saying, meta, where it said the iOS changes were reducing the accuracy of Facebook’s ads, increasing prices based on an outcome such as a sale or download. She also said that smaller businesses are being harmed more by Apple — which is something Facebook has been arguing about since the time of ATT’s announcement.
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