Apple has responded to Facebook after it attacked a new privacy feature the iPhone-maker is set to rollout next year.
Apple is expected to introduce AppTrackingTransparency in a future release of iOS 14, giving users what Facebook calls “a discouraging prompt” if apps such as Facebook’s try to track them or access their device’s advertising identifier.
Facebook claimed the feature would harm app developers and small businesses, and that it was an anti-competitive measure to benefit Apple’s own advertising features.
Apple responded by saying: “We believe that this is a simple matter of standing up for our users.
Apple will display a prompt giving users a choice over app tracking
“Users should know when their data is being collected and shared across other apps and websites – and they should have the choice to allow that or not.
“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,” the statement said.
Facebook’s criticisms came as the social media company also announced it would be joining Fortnite maker Epic Games’ legal fight against Apple.
It said it would be providing relevant information on how Apple’s policies are said to have adversely impacted the company.
“Free apps and the entrepreneurs and creators who build them… rely on advertising to make money, and in turn, provide free content to people – from your morning news to the game you play in line at the coffee shop to that comedy show you watched on Friday night,” explained Facebook.
Apple says it welcomes in-app advertising and is not prohibiting tracking, “simply requiring each app to obtain explicit user consent in order to track so that it will be more transparent and under user control”.
Facebook’s vice president for ads and business products, Dan Levy, claimed that Apple’s own personalised advertising platform wasn’t subject to the new iOS 14 policy.
Apple denies this claim, saying it is subject to the new policy but that it has designed its products to comply with the privacy protections.
The argument follows Apple’s software engineering executive, Craig Federighi, telling a conference in Brussels: “It’s already clear that some companies are going to do everything they can to stop the App Tracking Transparency feature.”
Without naming these companies, Mr Federighi said they wanted to “maintain their unfettered access to people’s data” and had “begun to make outlandish claims”.
“To say that we’re sceptical of those claims would be an understatement. But that won’t stop these companies from making false arguments to get what they want,” Mr Federighi said.
“We need the world to see those arguments for what they are: a brazen attempt to maintain the privacy-invasive status quo.”