Why Facebook is very afraid of a small pop-up

Hundreds of millions of iPhone owners will soon have to agree before apps are allowed to collect certain data. This panics Facebook - which already has an intimate dislike for Apple.

Two of the world's largest corporations are fighting over a small pop-up. If Facebook is to be believed, the fate of millions of small businesses is at stake. And because that's not enough, the future of the web is allegedly also at stake. All of this threatens Apple, it says, because it will soon present users with an unassuming dialog asking whether apps are allowed to collect their data.

This message seems to be very important to Facebook. In several blog posts and full-page ads in major U.S. media such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, Facebook is staging itself as the savior of the "free Internet" and advocate for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). On a specially set up campaign page, hoteliers, hairdressers, restaurant owners and others supposedly affected are to raise their voices against Apple and draw attention to the dramatic consequences.

To understand why a supposedly harmless query is causing such a big panic on Facebook, you have to look back to June. That's when Apple announced the "App Tracking Transparency" (ATT) framework. Simply put, developers are supposed to ask for permission before tracking users across other apps and websites. Until now, those who don't want this have had to actively object.

Apple's change could have drastic consequences

So Apple is preventing default tracking and making it an opt-in option. It needs the explicit consent of users before assigning them an individual advertising identification number. This could have drastic consequences. After all, people are creatures of habit, and companies exploit this mercilessly: Only a fraction of users bother with the default settings of the services and apps they install. The default configuration remains untouched, and that is usually: open all data gates.

When websites display confirmation dialogs, they are usually difficult to understand or even manipulative: Do you want to accept all cookies? Then please click on this huge blue button. Do you object? All right, here are 27 checkmarks that you can deselect individually.

Such so-called dark patterns are designed to get people to agree to things they don't even want. The dialog that hundreds of millions of iPhone owners will soon see is not misleading, but unambiguous. Below it, there are only two equally sized options: "Ask App not to Track" or "Allow." The exact German translations are not yet known, but they should be similarly unambiguous.

The planned changes not only upset Facebook, they threaten an entire industry that turns over billions of dollars every year. Advertising networks, targeting companies and tracking technology providers see their business model in danger. Many developers are also integrating Facebook's software modules into their apps, using them to collect valuable usage data and display personalized ads. Together with Facebook, major publishers and the advertising industry, they protested against Apple's plans.

Cook and Zuckerberg don't like each other

The resistance had an effect. Apple postponed the launch, whereupon eight organizations such as Amnesty International and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wrote an open letter to express their disappointment. Jane Horvath, who is responsible for all decisions affecting privacy at Apple, promptly responded, "We continue to stand fully behind ATT and our comprehensive approach to protecting privacy." Apple had only wanted to give developers more time to adapt their apps, she said.

That grace period is coming to an end soon. The first screenshots showing the confirmation dialog are surfacing in forums. Apparently, Apple will prohibit developers from tracking without consent using an advertising ID at the beginning of 2021. For Apple CEO Tim Cook, the matter is clear: "We believe users should decide for themselves what data is collected about them," he writes on Twitter. Facebook, he said, can still track users across apps and websites. "ATT in iOS 14 merely requires them to ask permission before doing so."

Cook likely sent off that tweet with some satisfaction. He and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg share an intimate dislike. Cook rubs Zuckerberg's nose in at every opportunity about how little he thinks of Facebook's business model - collecting data, building user profiles and selling their attention to advertisers who can serve personalized ads.

Zuckerberg, for his part, stresses that Facebook connects billions of people around the world who don't have to pay a dime for it. Apple, he said, sells high-priced devices to a wealthy elite. Cook, he said, should not be a hero for giving people back their privacy.

In fact, it's easy for Apple to criticize Facebook. The company makes most of its money from hardware. By contrast, its ad business accounts for nearly 99 percent of Facebook's revenue. The current conflict is therefore doubly unpleasant for Zuckerberg. On the one hand, Apple is hitting Facebook in its most sore spot. On the other, Cook is using the very same words Facebook otherwise often uses to argue its case: Control and freedom of choice. We only give users one choice," says Cook. Anyone who wants to can be monitored. We only give users one choice, says Zuckerberg. Anyone who wants to is welcome to object.

Facebook's employees also have doubts

That's probably why Facebook uses two straw men: the "free Internet" and SMEs. It's true that many websites and services are only free because they are financed by advertising. But Apple doesn't want to ban ads per se, only certain forms of tracking.

It's also true that ads that SMEs place on Facebook would be less effective if many people object to the tracking. But the fact that Facebook, of all people, which for years actively worked with programs like Free Basics to replace the free web with a Facebook Internet, is now acting as a bastion of the free web is surprising to many.

This includes not only the civil libertarians at the EFF, but also Facebook's own employees. As Buzzfeed and The Intercept report, some express skepticism in internal chats. "It feels like we're justifying doing bad things by hiding behind people who are more compassionate," one developer had written. "Aren't we worried about this falling on our feet because it looks like Facebook is just trying to defend its own business?" another reportedly asked.

The stakes are high for Facebook. In the U.S. and Europe, there is the threat of antitrust lawsuits and tough regulation that could severely curtail sales. The new U.S. President Joe Biden is not considered a big Facebook fan. Donald Trump raged against Silicon Valley, but rarely acted. That could change under Biden. The fact that Apple is now also threatening Facebook's advertising business must worry Zuckerberg.

For users, however, the changes are definitely good news. They can take back a piece of their privacy with a click. And those who prefer to see personalized advertising can still agree to tracking.