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Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP / Getty Images
There are problems between
appeal
and
Facebook.
In Wednesday’s conference call to
Facebook
(ticker: FB) reported his earnings, CEO Mark Zuckerberg took
appeal
(AAPL) raised the issue and said that Apple’s upcoming changes to ad tracking technology are in its own interest and not to help people, as Apple has claimed.
“Apple may say it’s doing it to help people, but the moves are clearly keeping an eye on their competing interests,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said late Wednesday in the revenue service. “And I think these dynamics are important for people to understand, because we and others are going to resist them soon.”
The upcoming change that Zuckerberg is referring to is an ominous part of Apple’s mobile iOS software that helps companies that sell ads track what people are doing on their phones. The tracking technology is used by Facebook and many other ad-based businesses to target ads more effectively and thus increase their value.
In December, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple believes people should have a choice over the data collected about it and how it is used. He has the point in a tweet that Facebook can still track people, but it will soon have to ask permission to do so.
It’s not clear when Apple plans to launch the update, but Facebook has long stated that if Apple were to continue with its plans, it would do most damage to small and medium-sized businesses. These types of businesses need precise targeting technology to place ads in front of their customers, as opposed to a state-specific or zip code-specific ad purchase. Big businesses can afford to make big ad purchases, Facebook executives said.
But Facebook seems to be going much further than what is strongly worded.
According to a report in The Information Thursday, lawyers hired by Facebook are preparing an antitrust case against the iPhone manufacturer. According to the case, Apple claims that Apple’s rules for its App Store are unfair. To list an app in Apple’s store, developers like Facebook have to follow a number of rules, such as using its payment system.
Zuckerberg also addressed a specific issue in the revenue call with Apple’s App Store practices. “I do want to emphasize that we increasingly see Apple as one of our biggest competitors,” Zuckerberg said. ‘IMessage is an important weapon in their ecosystem. It is pre-installed on every iPhone and they were preceded by private APIs and permissions, which is why iMessage is the most used messaging service in the US. An API, or application programming interface, allows developers to integrate their applications with popular software platforms.
It was not immediately clear whether Facebook intended to continue the lawsuit against Apple.
Epic filed a similar case against Apple last year amid an advertising flash and argued after the company tried to implement its own payment system within its popular Fortnite video game. Epic has asked courts to force Apple to change its business model for its app store.
Despite the problems Facebook has with Apple, Baird’s technology analyst Colin Sebastian wrote in a comment to customers on Thursday that Facebook is one of the strongest and most innovative large-scale internet platforms. He writes that his core businesses remain upward, calling the quarter ‘strong’, noting that growth may slow during the year.
Facebook shares closed Thursday with a 2.6% drop to $ 265.