Facebook parent company Meta has warned investors that it will lose around $10 billion in 2022 as a result of Apple’s bolstered privacy protections.
The company has been whinging about the improvements, which include App Tracking Transparency, since they were introduced in iOS 14. Its shares dipped more than 20% on Wednesday after it reported its latest disappointing earnings.
Facebook bemoans Apple privacy changes … again
In case you were wondering just how much Facebook relies on tracking its users, the introduction of new privacy features in iOS 14, which prevent apps from monitoring what you do inside other apps, is costing the company billions.
The social network warned last July that despite decent growth during the second quarter of 2021, it would suffer as a result of the changes in iOS 14 as the year drew to a close. And it wasn’t wrong.
“We believe the impact of iOS overall is a headwind on our business in 2022,” Meta CFO Dave Wehner said during an earnings call on Wednesday. “It’s on the order of $10 billion, so it’s a pretty significant headwind for our business.”
That’s $10 billion in 2022 alone. The figure will continue to rise in the future if Meta is unable to find a way to adapt to Apple’s changes, and it seems investors are already worried, with shares slumping more than 20% by market close.
iOS isn’t the only problem
It’s not just the iOS problem that Facebook has to contend with. Meta also reported that user growth has stagnated, while advertisers are spending less as a result of supply chain issues. The way people use Facebook has also changed.
“We expect continued headwinds from both increased competition for people’s time and a shift of engagement within our apps towards video surfaces like Reels, which monetize at lower rates than Feed and Stories,” Meta said.
For the first quarter of 2022, Meta expects its revenue to be between $27 billion and $29 billion, according to CNBC. Analysts had expected $30.15 billion.
