Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is using the opening remarks of the company’s revenue for the fourth quarter to explode Apple over the upcoming privacy changes, and to say Facebook is increasingly seeing Apple as one of its biggest competitors.
Apple is preparing for a software change that will prominently ask iPhone and iPad users if they would like to share their information for ad tracking purposes. The online advertising industry expects to be hit, as a percentage of users prefer not to share the information.
Facebook, which earns almost all of its revenue from online advertising, has been vocal about the changes, publishing newspaper ads, publishing a website and running a blog post outlining its arguments against Apple about the change it says is ‘threatening’. the personalized ads that millions of small businesses rely on to find and reach customers. ”
Zuckerberg suggested in his comments that Apple use its position to help its own services, especially its iMessage service, which competes with Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp services.
“iMessage is an important core of their ecosystem,” he said. “It’s pre-installed on every iPhone and they prefer it with private APIs and permissions, which is why iMessage is the most widely used messaging service in the United States.”
He said Apple’s business is now increasingly dependent on acquiring shares in apps and services.
“Apple has every incentive to use their dominant platform position to interfere with how our apps and other apps work, which they regularly do to give their own preference,” he said. “This is affecting the growth of millions of businesses around the world, including the upcoming iOS 14 changes.”
Zuckerberg also reiterates Facebook’s argument that Apple’s privacy changes will make it harder for small businesses to reach their customers with targeted advertising.
“Apple may say it’s doing it to help people, but the movements are clearly monitoring their competitors’ interests,” he said. “We and others will oppose this in the foreseeable future.”
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