The Electronic Frontier Foundation said Facebook’s attack on Apple’s anti-tracking initiatives is a “laughing campaign”, one that actually works against small businesses that the social network is supposed to be trying to protect.
Facebook’s ongoing media campaign to try to pressure Apple to stop its change program to limit the amount of ad tracking taking place in the Apple ecosystem has already received criticism from Apple CEO Tim Cook and the company itself. Now, the non-profit EFF focused on privacy has entered the argument and joined Apple.
In an article published on the EFF website on Friday, the group states that the Facebook campaign, which largely consists of a media flash that claims that Apple’s privacy changes will be negative for small businesses, is actually the opposite. Instead of protecting privacy, the EFF says it’s a “laughable attempt by Facebook” to distract users from its “poor experience with anti-competitive behavior and privacy issues” and to derail pro-privacy moves. would be harmful to the Facebook business.
The Apple AppTrackingTransparency feature launched on iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 is applauded by the EFF, as “the need for trackers to ask for your consent before tracking you on the internet should be an obvious basis.” By allowing users to choose which third-party trackers may or may not work, the change “gives users more knowledge about what apps do, helps protect users from abuse, and allows them to make the best decisions for themselves.”
The function is “another step in the right direction”, according to EFF, “reducing the abuse of developers by giving users knowledge and control over their personal data”.
In its Facebook campaign against it, EFF says it’s not about small businesses and “really refers to who benefits from the standardization of surveillance-based advertising and what Facebook will lose if its users learn more about exactly what they do.” and other data brokers are behind the scenes. ”
Targeted advertising, which is based on such trackers, is thought to make more money than unsolicited ads, but EFF claims that the extra revenue doesn’t go to content creators or app developers. “Instead, most of the extra money earned by targeted ads ends up in the pockets of these data brokers,” EFF writes, naming Facebook and Google as two beneficiaries.
As “a handful of companies control the online advertising market”, FEP says small businesses can’t compete effectively, in part because of the advertising industry that promotes “this fantasy that targeted advertising is superior to other ways to reach customers”. less valuable unmarked ads.
“Facebook presents itself in this case as protecting small businesses and this could not be further from the truth,” accuses EFF. “Facebook has blocked them in a situation where they are forced to be angry and hostile to their customers. The answer cannot be to defend that flawed system to the detriment of their users’ privacy and control.”
In conclusion, the EFF reiterates that the transparency of application tracking is a “big step forward” for Apple. “When a company does the right thing for its users, the EFF will agree with it, just as we will hardly fall for companies that do the wrong thing. Here, Apple is right and Facebook is wrong.”