For the first time in its history, Facebook And Instagram is threatening to pay. No, this is not a joke. The company run by Mark Zuckerberg has issued this warning to users who have installed and are using iOS 14.5, the latest version of the iPhone operating system. The reason? This software blocks data tracking, the main source of income for the social network.
Facebook continues its campaign Apple’s privacy updates on iOS 14, By adding a notification to your iOS app to users that there may be information you collect from other apps and websites “Help Facebook Be Without Money” A similar message was found on Instagram’s iOS app (Facebook is Instagram’s parent company).
Technical researcher Ashkan Soldani first noticed the new pop-up announcements on Saturday (see his tweet below), but Facebook spokesman The Verge described the update to a blog post from the beginning of last week. LThe company refers to ads as “educational views” and provides “additional information on how we use data for personalized ads”., According to a blog post by Dan Levy, Facebook’s vice president for advertising and business products.
“This version of iOS requires permission to track certain data to enhance the advertising of these devices. If you do not enable this device configuration, learn how we control the use of this information, “Notice says.” We use information about your activity from other apps and websites: Display more personalized ads and help keep Facebook free [y] Support companies that rely on ads to reach their customers. “
Developers need new additions to the latest versions of iOS 14, including iOS 14.5 Obtain the explicit permission of the device owners to allow Advertiser Identifier (IDFA) Shared and stored in applications. Under Apple’s new policy, app advertisers can continue to use other information provided by a user for targeted advertising, Even if the user chooses not to allow the application to be tracked, that information cannot be shared with another company for ad tracking.
If developers try to avoid the need for additions, or replace IDFA with other identifiable information such as email addressThe application considers the addition to exceed the requirement. These rules also apply to Apple’s own applications.
Facebook has strongly criticized Apple’s privacy updates for iOS 14, arguing that privacy changes could affect small businesses. They rely on the Facebook advertising network to reach their customers. In press releases and newspaper announcements, Facebook claims that Apple is developing new business models for apps that are less advertising and more reliant on subscriptions, which could give Apple a cut.
But the tactic The “Keep Facebook / Instagram Free” company goes against the lifelong Facebook slogan of “Free, Forever”. Of course, Facebook quietly removed that slogan from its homepage in 2019, and did not reject the paid version of Facebook when CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress in 2018. “A version of Facebook will always be free,” he said.
Zuckerberg mentioned Apple during a Facebook investor call in January, referring to Steve Jobs’ founding company as one of his biggest competitors. “Apple has every incentive to use its dominant site status to interfere with the operation of our applications and other applications, which usually does what it wants on its own. “ Said Zuckerberg. “It affects the growth of millions of companies around the world, even with the upcoming changes to iOS 14.”
