Social networks Facebook and Instagram (owned by Facebook) began asking iPhone owners for permission to track their activity in other applications and on other sites. Facebook and Instagram explain that user information is needed to keep social media “free”.
The American technology researcher Ashkan Soltani first noted the new pop-up notices.
Owners of iPhones who have updated their phones to iOS 14.5 are now receiving notifications from Facebook and Instagram. This update, which was released at the end of April, stipulates that every app that wants to access user activity in other apps and on other sites will need to request permission to do so.
Facebook used to criticized Apple’s decision. In August 2020, the CEO of the social network, Mark Zuckerberg, said that after the introduction of a new feature in iOS, targeting ads on Facebook would become 50% less effective. In December, the company ran an advertisement in newspapers that a new Apple feature posed threats to small businesses without mentioning threats to Facebook.
Under Apple’s new policy, app developers are still able to use other information a user provides for targeted advertising, even if the user opts out of letting the app track them, but that information can’t be shared with another company for ad tracking.
But the “keep Facebook/Instagram free” tactic seems to run counter to Facebook’s long-standing tagline which indicated the company was “free and always will be.”
Forsided, 04.05.2021
Source: The Verge