Apple will soon make app tracking transparency mandatory. Now Facebook seems to have a new plan in this regard. The company wants to encourage users to accept tracking.
The discussion about app tracking has been with us for several months. Facebook is always making headlines. Now the social media giant has developed an idea and presented it in an older blog post (via Axios). As a reminder, App Tracking Transparency is a new iOS 14 feature that requires apps to ask for users' permission before tracking them across other apps and websites. In Settings, users can also see which apps have requested permission to track, so they can make changes if they see fit. Once this requirement goes into effect, users will see a popup when they open the Facebook app, for example.
App Tracking Transparency: Apps must respect new directive
This message states that Facebook wants to track the user across other apps and websites. There will be two options that users can choose from: "Do not track" or "Allow". If a user decides not to be tracked, Apple will prevent the developer of the respective app from accessing the user's advertising identifier. The developer is also obliged to respect the user's tracking preference in general, which means that they may not use any other methods to track the user. Otherwise, the app could be removed from the App Store. After a series of fierce public attacks on Apple, Facebook has now taken a new direction. The company wants to actively encourage users to agree to tracking. This is what the updated blog post:
As we shared in December, we disagree with Apple's approach, but we will display their prompt to ensure stability for the businesses and people who use our services. Apple's new prompt suggests there is a trade-off between personalized ads and privacy, when we can and do offer both. Apple's prompt also provides no context about the benefits of personalized ads.
Facebook: “People deserve additional context”
Specifically, Facebook plans to present users with a new screen before the actual popup. This screen will provide information about how the company uses personalized ads, which it says "supports small businesses and keeps apps free." At the same time, the company warns that users who decline to be tracked "will still see ads, but they will be less relevant." The post states:
Agreeing to these requests doesn't mean Facebook will collect new types of data. It just means we can continue to provide people with better experiences. We believe people deserve the additional context, and Apple has said providing education is allowed.
Whether the new approach will help the company remains to be seen. There is currently speculation aboutthat Facebook is preparing a comprehensive antitrust lawsuit against Apple. It can therefore be assumed that this issue will be with us for some time. (Photo by r.classen / Bigstockphoto)
