Privacy
Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly revealing previously private personal information about an individual or organization, usually through the Internet. (Photo: Glen Carrie/Unsplash)

Social media giant Facebook continued its attack on the Ad Tracking Privacy Program of Apple in several newspaper ads.

The PR blitz that Facebook initiated against Apple and its ad tracking privacy program shows no sign of abating as the social media giant continues its attack in newspaper ads with renewed vigor. The ads, which was entitled "We're standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere," ran Wednesday in Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal. The ads focus on the upcoming changes to the Cupertino tech giant's iOS 14 operating system which seeks to limit the ability of companies, such as Facebook, to collect data about their users and feed them incessantly with targeted advertising.

   

In previous newspaper ads, which had the semblance of a PR attack, Facebook told investors that the changes Apple intends to implement early next year through its ad tracking privacy program would lead to substantial headwinds since most of the social media giant's advertisers are small businesses. "While limiting how personalized ads can be used does impact larger companies like us, these changes will be devastating to small businesses," Facebook, in a statement, said. Apple did not take the statement of Facebook kindly as it pushed back and accused Facebook of showing utter "disregard for user privacy."

According to Facebook, ads that ignore personalized targeting make 60% fewer sales compared to ads that target consumers. It cited its own data by way of an example. The heart of the issue is Apple's ad tracking privacy program, App Tracking Transparency. While the privacy program does not prevent companies like Facebook from gathering targeting information, it will ask Facebook to disclose it and allow users to opt-in. This is primarily the reason why Facebook initiated newspaper ads attacking the decision of Apple, saying it will hugely impact small businesses.

During a conference call Wednesday, which came complete with a blog post, Facebook pressed on its attack, saying only Apple's business model stands to gain from changes brought about by its ad tracking privacy program. "Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using their control of the App Store to benefit their bottom line at the expense of creators and small businesses," Dan Levy, chief of the small business program at Facebook. With the continued attack of Facebook on Apple through newspaper ads, it is unclear whether the Cupertino-based tech giant will counter with the same strategy or go to court. Earlier this month, federal and state regulators sued Facebook for alleged anticompetitive practices.

In answer to Facebook's newspaper ads attacking the decision of the Cupertino tech giant as regards its ad tracking privacy program, an Apple spokesperson said that its App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 will not require Facebook to make drastic changes in its approach in tracking users and generating targeted advertising. "Apple simply requires companies to give users a choice. 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," the Apple spokesperson said.