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Apple Confirms Plans to Launch Anti-Tracking Feature

November 26 2020

Apple has confirmed plans to introduce a feature known as 'App Tracking Transparency' (ATT) next year, which will prevent apps and web sites from monitoring the way a user behaves online.

A 'transparent' approach to trackingApple currently uses its 'IDFA' (Identifier for Advertisers) as the tracking mechanism for iPhone users, logging actions such as apps opened and what was interacted with. Ad platforms rely on the resulting data to identify interests and user actions, and this information forms the basis for how ads are targeted. App and gaming companies, who show ads on their sites via Facebook's Audience Network, are particularly dependent on this data.

In June, Apple announced it would be introducing the ATT feature as part of the roll out of its new iOS 14 operating system, but by September a coalition of ad organizations had demanded an 'urgent meeting' with Apple over the plans, which will result in the loss of the IDFA capability. This coalition has now formed an organization called the Partnership for Responsible Addressable Media, with the aim of persuading Apple to reconsider its ATT approach. In response, Apple has decided to delay the ATT feature launch, in a move which it says is intended to give developers the time they need to 'properly' update their systems and data practices.

According to Jane Hovath, Apple's Senior Director of Global Privacy, ATT doesn't ban the 'reasonable' collection of user data for app functionality, or even for advertising, but does enable developers to explain why they want to track users both before the ATT prompt is shown and in the prompt itself, at which point, users can make their own choice about whether to proceed. 'We remain fully committed to ATT and to our expansive approach to privacy protections - Apple is not against advertising, we simply think tracking should be transparent and under user control,' Hovath added.

Facebook has suggested that the new feature may render its own Audience Network ad targeting system 'so ineffective on iOS 14 that it may not make sense to offer it'. The social network responded to the latest announcement with a claim that Apple is using its 'dominant market position' to self-preference its own data collection, while making it nearly impossible for competitors to use the same data. 'They claim it's about privacy, but it's about profit'.

Apple's ad revenue for 2019 was estimated at $2bn, while Facebook made around $69.7bn.

Web site: www.apple.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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