IOS Pal has become more aggressive with its privacy policy since the introduction of iOS 14, with many new features added to allow users to control how third-party applications use their data. Facebook has been criticizing the changes, and now some former employees have explained how iOS privacy features are affecting the company.
Apple is working on a new feature called App Tracking Transparency that will be introduced to all users with iOS 14.5 in this era. Once this feature is alive, apps will not be able to track users between other apps and websites without their permission. Facebook, of course, is not happy about this, as the social network relies on ads for its revenue.
CNBC Talked to some former Facebook employees who explained in detail exactly how Apple’s new privacy policies will affect the company. Like other ad-selling platforms, Facebook uses something called “view-through conversions” to measure how many users saw the ad and didn’t immediately interact with it, but later made a related purchase.
After the purchase is made, the retailer records the user’s IDFA of the jeans buyer and shares it with Facebook, which can determine if the IDFA matches the user’s view of a jeans ad. This shows the retailer that their Facebook ad works.
The Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) provides Facebook and advertisers with a lot of information about the user who interacts with the ad, also helping them determine which specific users will be shown.
With app tracking transparency in iOS 14, users will not allow Facebook to record IDFA, which will make it difficult to measure whether the ad was successful in its intended purpose. As a result, fewer advertisers can use Facebook apps to promote their products and services, which will definitely cost the company money.
The company also fears losing advertisers on Google, which is currently the largest advertising online advertising platform with Google Ads.
Facebook is the number one recipient of ad online ads, behind Google. One particular threat is that advertisers will pour more money into Google’s search advertising business, which cannot duplicate Facebook, and which target users at the time of conversion.
Facebook is attacking Apple with campaigns that say iOS 14 privacy changes will hurt small businesses, as many of them use Facebook’s platforms to advertise their products and services. However, a former Facebook employee argues that these changes may not affect small businesses because these businesses are typically located in specific cities or states, making it easier to determine the target audience of the ad without using IDFA trackers.
For example, if you’re a small coffee shop in Texas Stin, Texas, you don’t need much data to target your ads, said Henry Love, a former employee of Facebook’s small business team. Such businesses typically limit their targeting to a fairly broad category – for example, an age range and a range of distance from a specific pin code, which will allow Facebook users to target ads near them.
“If you talked to any restaurant owner anywhere and asked them what IDFA is, I don’t think any of them would know what it is,” Love said. “It simply came to our notice then. Not small business owners. ”
It doesn’t look like Facebook will try to ignore the Apple moment, but it’s hard for the company to try to persuade its users to enable the tracking option with iOS 14.5 – which is expected to be released later this month.
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