Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the House Financial Services Committee in the Rayburn House office building on Capitol Hill on October 23, 2019 in Washington, DC. Zuckerberg testified about Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency proposal, how his company will handle false and misleading information from political leaders during the 2020 campaign, and how it manages the data and privacy of its users.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday that he is confident the social media company “can handle” Apple’s upcoming privacy update to iOS 14, which will make it easier for iPhone and iPad users to block businesses from track your activity and target ads.
“We’ll be in a good position,” Zuckerberg said in the Club Room Thursday afternoon.
Apple’s upcoming privacy changes will inform users about tracking device identification and ask if they want to allow it. Tracking is based on a unique device identifier on each iPhone and iPad called IDFA. Companies that sell mobile ads use this identifier to help target your ads and estimate their effectiveness.
Apple has said the change will extend earlier this spring.
Zuckerberg explained that the change could benefit Facebook if more companies decide to sell merchandise directly through Facebook and Instagram.
“We may even be in a stronger position if Apple’s changes encourage more companies to trade more on our platforms, making it harder for them to use their data to find the customers they would like. use their products off our platforms, ”Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg’s comments are the most optimistic statements Facebook has made about how Apple’s upcoming changes may affect the company’s advertising business.
In July 2020, Facebook chief financial officer David Wehner said Apple’s changes to iOS 14 could hurt the social media company’s ability to target ads to users, and in August 2020, the company said the changes could lead to a more than 50% drop in its audience network. advertising business, which accounts for less than 10% of the company’s net revenue. The company told investors during its January fourth-quarter earnings that the impact of Apple’s changes could begin to affect Facebook’s business in the late first quarter.
Facebook has prepared for Apple’s future changes by introducing more commercial products.
In 2020, in particular, the social media company introduced Facebook Shops and Instagram Shops. These features allow brands to list their product catalogs directly in Facebook’s most popular apps and sell products directly to Facebook and Instagram.
Zuckerberg said Thursday that Facebook already had a million stores active in its services and 250 million people actively using the stores.
“Compared to the first conversations we had about how people would use this through Facebook and Instagram and our product, I think this is something that is well on its way to being something that will be increasingly important for the people, ”Zuckerberg said.