Facebook’s campaign against Apple is a ‘ridiculous’ diversionary tactic, says privacy group



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In November, Apple said it would implement a feature called App Tracking Transparency that would allow users to opt out of collecting and aggregating their data between apps that would affect companies’ ability to deliver targeted advertising.

This would come in the form of a pop-up window in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, asking users if they want to allow an app to “track your activity on other companies’ apps and websites.”

Facebook responded by saying that Apple was faking its privacy concerns, and was actually more concerned with hiding its own privacy flaws, favoring its own apps and moving “from innovative hardware products to data-driven media and software.” .

In response to Facebook’s claims, Apple has said that users still had the option to opt out of data tracking.

“We believe that it is a simple matter of defending our users. Users should know when their data is being collected and shared through other applications and websites, and should have the option to allow that or not, “Apple said in a statement.

Apple’s move was supported by groups like Amnesty International and Mozilla, and is now supported by the EFF, which has called Facebook’s comments a “ridiculous attempt by Facebook to distract you from its poor record of anti-competitive behavior and anti-competitive behavior. Privacy”.

The organization went on to claim that Facebook had built an “empire” around user tracking.

“This latest Facebook campaign is yet another direct attack on our privacy and, despite its elegant packaging, it is also an attack on other companies, both large and small,” wrote the EFF.

Facebook had repeatedly used the inability of small businesses to use targeted advertising to challenge Apple’s claims, arguing that it is a “notice that is apparently designed to discourage people from opting out,” according to Steve Satterfield, chief privacy officer and Facebook public policies.

However, Satterfield said that he did not “think [Facebook has] Any plan to provide more information ”on their claims about the companies’ revenue and sales figures.

“In reality, several studies have shown that most of the money made from targeted advertising does not reach the content creators, application developers and the content they host,” wrote Andrés Arrieta, Director of Privacy Engineering at the EFF consumer.

Instead, most of the extra money earned from targeted ads ends up in the pockets of these data brokers. Some names are well known, like Facebook and Google, but many more are … companies that most users have not even heard of.

He goes on to say that Facebook and a handful of other companies keep the online advertising market “at their mercy” and that small businesses cannot compete with larger ad networks.

Facebook did not respond to The independent request for comments before publication.

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