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How to hide likes and view counts on Facebook and Instagram

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How to hide likes and views on Facebook and Instagram
Not interested in likes? Get rid of them.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Facebook and Instagram have added the ability to hide likes and view counts — a feature that’s been in the works for a while. You can block counts on your own posts and well as on those from others.

We’ll show you how to enable the setting inside Facebook and Instagram for iPhone and iPad.

Facebook-backed report calls Apple privacy features anticompetitive

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App Tracking Transparency is iOS 14.5's controversial new privacy-related feature.
Is Apple weaponizing privacy to increase its advantage?
Screenshot: Apple

Facebook isn’t backing down in its battle against Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature. And it’s seemingly got a couple of heavy hitter researchers in its corner.

In a Facebook-funded paper published Wednesday, Feng Zhu, an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and D. Daniel Sokol, a professor of law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, take issue with Apple’s new privacy features — referring to them as “an anticompetitive strategy disguised as a privacy-protecting measure.”

Steve Jobs once called Facebook ‘Fecebooks’

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Steve Jobs once called Facebook ‘Fecebooks’
Typo? Or cutting insult? Apple’s former CEO once used the term “Fecebooks.”
Photo: Cult of Mac

Disagreements between Apple and Facebook have made headlines recently, but bad blood between the two companies dates back decades. In 2011, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs even called the social-networking service “Fecebooks.”

Ad companies argue App Tracking Transparency will drive up cost of apps

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App Store image
Could privacy feature be ultimately bad for users?
Photo: James Yarema/Unsplash CC

A group of media, tech, and ad companies in Germany have made an official antitrust complaint about Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature.

The group, which represents Facebook among other companies, is concerned about the effect the new privacy feature will have on the ad business. It also claims that the feature could wind up hurting users by making apps more expensive.

Tim Cook’s privacy prescription for Facebook: Delete tons of user data

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By running anti-Apple ads in major newspapers, Facebook's taking its battle with Apple to the next level.
Cook is no big fan of Facebook.
Photo: Thought Catalog/Unsplash CC

Tim Cook reportedly shocked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg when, during a July 2019 meeting, he told the social media magnate that he should delete all user data Facebook had gathered outside of its core apps.

According to The New York Times, the meeting between the two had been called to try and restore peace between the Silicon Valley tech giants. Zuck had asked cook how he should respond to the then-current Cambridge Analytica scandal, during which many users had had data gathered about them without express permission.

WhatsApp will cut off message sending and receiving for users who don’t agree new terms

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WhatsApp-dark-mode
New rules come into effect in May.
Photo: WhatsApp/Cult of Mac

Users who don’t get on board with WhatsApp’s terms and conditions will be unable to send or receive messages after May 15. While calls and notifications will continue to work for a short while, this will supposedly only be for a period of a “few weeks.”

WhatsApp first announced the changing privacy policies in January. The changed policy notes that, “As part of the Facebook family of companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, this family of companies.”

Facebook plans smartwatch to compete with Apple Watch

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A Facebook watch will likely give new meaning to the word “watch.”
A rumored Facebook watch will offer many of the features already in the very successful Apple Watch.
Illustration: Wikipedia CC/Cult of Mac

Facebook is reportedly building a smartwatch that’ll offer instant messaging on the go. And help users stay fit.

Of course, the Facebook watch will have to go head-to-head with Apple Watch, the 500-pound gorilla of the wearables market.

Google takes top spot as January’s biggest iOS developer

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Apple Google
Google is Apple's biggest developer.
Photo: Apple/Google

Google and Facebook are rivals of Apple, but they also rely on it a whole lot — as a new report by app analytics platform Sensor Tower makes clear. It highlights how Google and Facebook were two of the top three publishers on the iOS App Store in January, with Google holding the top spot.

It’s the perfect illustration of the “coopetition” relationship that exists between the tech giants.

Snapchat admits iOS 14 privacy feature could disrupt its business

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Snapchat logo
Snapchat thinks its business could be disrupted by changes.
Photo: Alexander Shatov/Unsplash CC

Snapchat parent company Snap has added its voice to the tech companies complaining that iOS 14’s privacy measures could hurt its business.

Releasing its Q4 2020 earnings Thursday, the company’s CFO Derek Andersen said that the Apple changes might disrupt Snap’s ad-centric business model.

Facebook will try to convince iPhone users to let themselves be tracked

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Your iPhone will soon offer a bit more privacy.
Facebook will try to talk users into hitting the “allow” button when asked if they can be tracked. Apple will add this pop-up to help users protect their privacy.
Graphic: Apple

Facebook is going to take a shot at persuading users to skip the “do not track” button that Apple will soon require iPhone application to display. The pop-up is designed to protect user privacy, but the Facebook app will offer its own pop-up screen explaining the benefits of targeted advertising before users are given the option to opt out of being tracked.

Facebook’s spat with Apple keeps getting uglier

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Facebook’s spat with Apple keeps getting uglier
Facebook continues to attack Apple, with the social-networking giant accusing Apple of unfair business practices.
Photo: PxHere

The war of words between Facebook and Apple heated up further on Wednesday, with the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stating, “we increasingly see Apple as one of our biggest competitors.” And the rivalry between the might be headed to court, with the social-networking giant accusing Apple of using the App Store to disadvantage rivals.

Apple’s first VR headset could be an expensive disappointment

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Apple VR headset could look like Oculus Quest
Apple's first headset could be around the same size as Oculus Quest.
Photo: Oculus

Don’t expect too much from Apple’s first virtual reality headset. A new report warns that Cupertino’s first stab at a wearable VR system, which could come in 2022, will be expensive with a limited set of capabilities.

The device is believed to be designed primarily as a “niche precursor” to more ambitious AR/VR glasses that Apple plans to launch later.

Facebook tells businesses new iOS 14 privacy feature will cause major harm

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By running anti-Apple ads in major newspapers, Facebook's taking its battle with Apple to the next level.
A new iOS feature could hurt Facebook and the companies that use the social network for advertising.
Photo: Thought Catalog/Unsplash CC

Facebook sent out a message to businesses recently pointing out how Apple’s new privacy features could hurt them by clamping down on targeted advertising.

It also claims that personalized ads that utilize user data to target individuals can coexist with user privacy online.

Some Facebook employees question social network’s anti-Apple campaign

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Facebook logo
Facebook says it's standing up for small businesses.
Photo: Brett Jordan/Unsplash

Facebook argues that it is standing up for small businesses by challenging Apple on its pro-privacy measures. However, it appears that not all Facebook employees are buying the company line.

According to internal message board comments and audio obtained by BuzzFeed News, some Facebook employees think their employer is being a tad disingenuous with its public statements about working on behalf of mom-and-pop businesses.

Electronic Frontier Foundation springs to Apple’s defense in Facebook spat

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During the WWDC 2020 keynote, Apple doubled down on its commitment to privacy.
During the WWDC 2020 keynote, Apple doubled down on its commitment to privacy.
Photo: Apple

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.

Full-page Facebook ad accuses Apple of changing the internet for the worse [Updated]

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Facebook logo
Facebook isn't endearing itself to Apple right now.
Photo: Brett Jordan/Unsplash

Facebook has launched its second, blistering full-page ad against Apple, one day after it took it to task in The New York Times and elsewhere for allegedly hurting small businesses.

The new ad, which will appear in today’s papers, is titled “Apple vs. the free internet.” Here’s what it says:

Facebook stands up for ‘small businesses’ with full-page ad against Apple

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By running anti-Apple ads in major newspapers, Facebook's taking its battle with Apple to the next level.
By running anti-Apple ads in major newspapers, Facebook's taking its battle with Cupertino to the next level.
Photo: Thought Catalog/Unsplash CC

Facebook ran full-page ads in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal Wednesday, taking aim at Apple privacy features coming soon to iOS 14.

Facebook’s ads claim that the new privacy measures, intended to fill users in on how they are tracked online, will hurt small businesses. That’s because the new iOS feature will affect Facebook’s advertising model, which lets businesses target users with ads based on their personal data.

Facebook hopes new EU rules could ‘set boundaries for Apple’

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Facebook logo
Facebook has launched fantasy gaming on iOS and Android.
Photo: Brett Jordan/Unsplash

Facebook isn’t happy about what it sees as Apple overstepping its bounds. As reported by Reuters, Facebook says that it hopes new draft EU rules could put Apple in its place when it comes to the power exhibited by the Cupertino tech giant.

“We hope the [Digital Markets Act] will…set boundaries for Apple,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “Apple controls an entire ecosystem from device to App Store and apps, and uses this power to harm developers and consumers, as well as large platforms like Facebook.”

Feeling lucky? Google was the top iOS developer in October

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Apple Google
Google and Apple are both friends and rivals.
Photo: Apple/Google

Like most tech giants, Apple and Google have a strange “coopetition” relationship, whereby they simultaneously compete and work together.

The latest example? Google, the company that spawned the rival Android mobile operating system, was the top developer in Apple’s iOS App Store last month.

Facebook CEO worries iOS 14 anti-tracking feature could hurt small businesses

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Facebook owns 4 of the top 10 apps of the past decade
Facebook owns 4 of the top 10 apps of the past decade
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Mark Zuckerberg isn’t happy about an iOS 14 feature that will make it harder for developers and advertisers to track iPhone users — on the basis that the anti-tracking tech could hurt small businesses already struggling in the age of coronavirus.

In Thursday’s earnings call, the Facebook co-founder and CEO said that actions planned by Apple “could have a meaningful negative effect on small businesses and economic recovery in 2021 and beyond.”

House antitrust report calls to ‘break up’ tech giants

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Should Apple take over the White House?
Could the U.S. government break up Big Tech?
Photo: MattCC716/Flickr CC

The U.S. House of Representatives antitrust report on Big Tech reportedly includes a “thinly veiled call to break up” the tech giants, according to a report by Reuters.

The House antitrust subcommittee could publish its report on Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet this week. However, while it’s not been published yet, it’s already causing controversy.