Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testifying before the Financial Services Committee at the Rayburn House office building on Capitol Hill, October 23, 2019, in Washington, DC. Zuckerberg testified about the cryptocurrency proposed by Facebook Libra, about how his company will handle the false and misleading information of political leaders during the 2020 campaign and about how it manages the data and privacy of its users.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday that he is confident the social media company “will be able to manage through” the next planned update of Apple’s privacy for iOS 14, which will make it easier for iPhone and iPad users to block companies from tracking their activity to target ads.
“We’ll be in a good position,” Zuckerberg said in a clubhouse on Thursday afternoon.
Future changes to Apple privacy will inform users about tracking their device ID and ask if they want to allow it. Tracking is based on a unique device identifier on each iPhone and iPad called IDFA. Companies that sell mobile ads use this ID to help target your ads and estimate their effectiveness.
Apple said the change will be released early this spring.
Zuckerberg explained that the change could benefit Facebook if more companies decide to sell goods directly through Facebook and Instagram.
“We may even be in a stronger position if Apple’s changes encourage more companies to trade more on our platforms, making it harder for them to use data to find customers who would like to use their products outside of our platforms.” said Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg’s comments are the most optimistic statements Facebook has made about how Apple’s future changes may impact the company’s advertising business.
In July 2020, Facebook chief financial officer David Wehner said changes to Apple iOS 14 could affect the company’s ability to target social media ads to users, and in August 2020, the company said the changes could lead to a decrease of over 50% of its public network. advertising business, which accounts for less than 10% of the company’s net revenue. The company told investors during its earnings in the fourth quarter of January that the impact of Apple’s changes could begin to affect Facebook’s business at the end of the first quarter.
Facebook has prepared for Apple’s future changes by introducing more commercial products.
In particular, the social media company in 2020 introduced Facebook Shops and Instagram Shops. These features allow brands to list their product catalogs directly on the most popular Facebook applications and sell products directly on Facebook and Instagram.
Zuckerberg said on Thursday that Facebook already has 1 million stores active in its services and 250 million people are actively using the stores.
“Compared to the early conversations we had about how people would use this on Facebook and Instagram and our product, I think this is something that’s about to be something that’s going to be more and more important for people, “Zuckerberg said.