SAN RAMON, Calif.; – Apple CEO Tim Cook shot a series of slow-motion photos at Facebook and other social media companies on Thursday, fueling an online privacy battle pitting the iPhone maker against digital services that rely on surveillance on people to help sell ads.
“Too many are still asking the question ‘how far can we get away? ‘when we should be asking’ what is the effect? said Cook. “What is the impact not only on tolerable but valuable content that weakens public confidence in life-saving vaccines? What is the impact of seeing thousands of users come up with opposing groups and then maintain an algorithm that suggests more? ”
Speaking at a near-held International Conference on computers, privacy & data protection, Cook said it was “time to stop that this approach comes with no cost – polarization, trust lost and yes, violence. ”
Cook never announced a specific name on Facebook FB,
or any other company. But his comments left little doubt that his messages were aimed at social media sites that have been criticized for embracing theories of conspiracy, hate speech and political misinformation that culminated in it. the Jan. revolution. 6 passed the U.S. Capitol while Congress met to confirm the election of President Joe Biden.
“A social legacy cannot be allowed to be a social disaster,” Cook said, referring to a Netflix documentary about technology – and in particular social media – its detrimental effects on society. That film gave Facebook a square footage and how its algorithms handle nearly 3 billion users so they can track the ads that generate the majority of its revenue.
Cook’s broad side came as Apple AAPL,
preparing to release new privacy controls in early spring to prevent iPhone apps from secretly shadowing people. That adds to the feature of the upcoming course after a delay of more than six months targeting Facebook and other digital services that rely on such data analysis to help sell ads. .
Although Apple has not given a specific date, the standard timeline released Thursday means that the long-standing protection called Transparency Tracking App will be part of an iPhone software update that is likely to arrive at the end March or sometime in April.
After delaying the planned introduction in September amid a Facebook-led attack, Apple had previously said it would come out early this year. Apple released the latest record update as part of Data Privacy Day.
Apple has been holding back to give Facebook and other app makers more time to switch to a feature that requires iPhone users to have the specific permission to be tracked. Analysts expect that a large number of users will refuse that license once it needs the consent. Currently, iPhone users often monitor the apps they install unless they take the extra step of entering iPhone settings to prevent it.
“Technology doesn’t require a lot of personal data, stitched together across dozens of websites and apps, to succeed,” Cook said. “Advertising was there and thrived for decades without it. ”
In addition to what Cook said, Apple also released an 11-page report to show what apps are capable of learning about their users in their daily lives.
Facebook halted its attacks on Apple’s new privacy control last month, in a series of full-page ads in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other national newspapers. That initiative recommended that some free digital services be rolled out if they are unable to combine personal information to customize ads. On Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg questioned Apple’s reasons for the changes, saying the iPhone maker has “every incentive” to use its own mobile platform to deter competitors from accessing the app. his own message.
“Apple may be saying that they are doing this to help people, but it is clear that the trends are monitoring their competing interests,” Zuckerberg said.
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Google, which also relies on personal data to power the internet ‘s largest advertising network, has not logged into Facebook criticizing Apple’ s upcoming controls on search. Google is profiting from being the primary search engine on the iPhone, a price position for which it pays Apple around $ 9 billion to $ 12 billion annually.
But Google warned in a blog post Wednesday that Apple ‘s new controls will have a major impact on the iPhone’ s ad revenue of other apps in its digital network. Google said the new requirement will affect “a few” of its own iPhone apps, but they plan to make changes to them so that Apple’s new controls don’t affect them. It did not specify which apps.
“We remain committed to maintaining a vibrant and open app ecosystem where people can access a wide range of content supported by confidence that their privacy and preferences are respected,” wrote Christophe Combette, group product manager for Google Ads.