Apple CEO Tim Cook (l) and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Facebook.
Getty Images (L) | Reuters (R)
Earlier this week, Apple updated its App Store to display information about what types of user data various apps collect.
The privacy label of an application is very striking: Facebook. In Apple’s App Store, Facebook’s list of apps now includes several pages detailing exactly what user data the app collects and what it’s used for.
The long Facebook tag, which could cause privacy-sensitive users to reconsider using the app, is an example of why the two Silicon Valley giants have been embroiled in a war of words for the past five years: Facebook and Apple have two different business models and are increasingly in conflict.
Apple is a consumer hardware company that makes money selling phones, computers, and accessories at premium prices. In recent years, it has been adding privacy features to make it difficult to collect user data for other companies, which it markets as the main reason for choosing Apple products over those of the competition.
Facebook is an advertising company that makes money by gathering detailed information about users to help advertisers target and tailor their messages to the audiences most likely to respond.
Some of Facebook’s complaints with Apple are not related to these privacy tags: they relate to other conflicts between the two companies, such as the 30% reduction in purchases made from the Apple app and the upcoming changes how applications can access device identifiers to target them. ads.
But the conflict between the two companies is ultimately about user segmentation, as this November exchange demonstrates:
“Facebook executives have made it clear that their intention is to collect as much data as possible on both top-tier and third-party products to develop and earn revenue with detailed profiles of their users, and this disregard for user privacy continues to expand. to include more of their products “. Apple’s world head of privacy, Jane Horvath, said in a letter to human rights groups.
Facebook fired up that same day in a statement saying Apple was using its power to put its competitors at a disadvantage. “They claim it’s about privacy, but about benefits.”
The Facebook app and website have controls that help users set up privacy settings, Facebook said, and Apple’s labels ignore the important context of how it uses the data to run its services.
Facebook subsidiary WhatApp told Axios last week that Apple’s labels are anti-competitive because some of Apple’s own apps, such as Messaging, are pre-installed on iPhones and have no store lists or labels. similar. (Apple posts how its pre-installed applications use user data on a support page on their website).
Facebook tag
A quick look at the privacy tags shows why privacy-conscious users may be hesitant to download the app.
Two large icon sets on the download page provide an overview of the data the app collects, including “data used to track you” and “linked data,” two alarming descriptions. if not terribly accurate:
Facebook app listing icons show that the app uses contact information, identifiers, and other data to track you or to help target ads to other apps and websites that Facebook doesn’t have.
Facebook also collects a variety of data linked to your identity, according to your privacy tag, including health and fitness data, purchases, location, and contacts.
If users tap “Show details,” they’ll get a terrifying look at what exact user data Facebook collects and what they use it for. This page reveals that Facebook uses “other financial information” and user content to target ads and collects “sensitive information” for its own analytics.
But perhaps the most memorable part of the Facebook privacy tag details page is how much time it has: on the phone, it takes up multiple screens. It leaves a very strong impression that Facebook is collecting a lot of data about its billions of users.