Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation called Facebook’s anti-Apple attack ads “a laughable [attempt] … to distract [users] from its poor track record of anticompetitive behavior and privacy issues” in an article published Friday.
Facebook lashed out at Apple last week with two full-page newspaper ads. The campaign targeted Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency feature, which fills users in on which apps are tracking them. Facebook claims the change will hurt small businesses by making it tougher for them to use targeted ads.
The EFF wrote:
“Allowing users to choose what third-party tracking they will or will not tolerate, and forcing apps to request those permissions, gives users more knowledge of what apps are doing, helps protect users from abuse, and allows them to make the best decisions for themselves. You can mark your AppTrackingTransparency preferences app by app, or set it overall for all apps.
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Overall, AppTrackingTransparency is a great step forward for Apple. When a company does the right thing for its users, EFF will stand with it, just as we will come down hard on companies that do the wrong thing. Here, Apple is right and Facebook is wrong. Next step: Android should follow with the same protections. Your move, Google.”
Electronic Frontier Foundation is on-board for Apple’s privacy mission
Apple has long embraced privacy as a core tenet, going against Silicon Valley tech giants that offer ostensibly free products paid for with user data. The standoff with Facebook is significant because it highlights two different business models that are not compatible with one another. After being called out by Facebook, Apple released the following statement:
“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.”
What do you think of Facebook’s attack on Apple? Who will win this particular clash? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
