Snap CEO Evan Spiegel told CNBC on Friday that while the upcoming privacy changes to Apple’s iPhone will certainly be detrimental to advertising, it is ultimately the right choice for its consumers.
“We feel that we are well prepared for these changes and, frankly, because these changes comply with our privacy philosophy, we have never allowed device-specific targeting, for example, and we have always taken a very protective stance when it comes to data from our users, “Spiegel said in an interview with” Squawk Alley. ” “Overall, we see this as a good thing overall for consumers, even if it’s a bit detrimental to advertisers in the short term.”
To target mobile ads and measure their effectiveness, app developers and other industry players currently use Apple’s Advertiser ID (IDFA), a unique string of letters and numbers across all devices. Apple. But once a privacy update is released, app creators will be required to request permission to access a user’s IDFA through a request. A significant portion of users are expected to say no, which will make specific advertising less effective.
Spiegel’s most casual gesture toward the next change is a dramatically different response to that of his Facebook partner Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook also hosts a large online advertising business, which gets almost all of its ad revenue.
Facebook has repeatedly criticized Apple for the planned change since it was announced in June and has said it will hurt small businesses.
“Apple may say it does it to help people, but the moves clearly follow the interests of its competitors,” Zuckerberg said during Facebook’s earnings call last week. “We and others will deal with this in the foreseeable future.”
That’s not to say Snap isn’t worried at all. The company warned investors Thursday in its fourth-quarter earnings report that Apple’s changes would present a risk of disrupting demand after they were implemented.
“The reason we highlight some of the policy changes that Apple is making is that they will affect our ability to measure and optimize advertising effectively outside of Snapchat,” Spiegel said.
Snap said it has been working with Apple to prepare for the changes and plans to provide advertisers with more opportunities to provide their products and services to Snap users directly through Snapchat.
“The reality is that we admire Apple and believe they are trying to do the right thing for their customers,” said Jeremi Gorman, Snap’s commercial director, in the company’s earnings call. “Their focus on protecting privacy is aligned with our values and the way we have created our business from the beginning. In general, we feel very well prepared for these changes, but changes in this ecosystem are usually harmful and the outcome is uncertain. “
– CNBC’s Megan Graham contributed to this report.
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