Apple responds to Facebook's attack ad, says users deserve privacy choices

Source: Apple

What you need to know

Apple has responded to Facebook's attack on its new privacy policies.
The company says that it is "standing up for our users."

Earlier today Facebook launched an ad campaign against Apple's new privacy policies that rolled out for apps and the App Store with the release of iOS 14.3 earlier this week. The company argued that the new privacy labels in the App Store will be detrimental to small businesses and that the company is "standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere."

Now, Apple has responded to Facebook's attack, saying that the company is simply "standing up for our users." In a statement provided by Apple to iMore, the company explains that it is not blocking Facebook from any targeted advertising as long as one of its users agrees to the kind of data collection and tracking the app does. Apple argues that users should know how their data is being used by a company and that they deserve the opportunity to choose whether to allow it.

"We believe that this is a simple matter of standing up for our users. 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. App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 does not require Facebook to change its approach to tracking users and creating targeted advertising, it simply requires they give users a choice."

The company also released a screenshot of the opt-in/opt-out modal which users must be presented with when an app wants to collect its data.

Source: Apple

While Facebook claims that Apple's new privacy policies are a detriment to its and the small businesses that are on its platform, Apple seems to be staying true to its word on forcing developers to disclose just how much data you are giving away when you use an app like Facebook.