Apple’s Privacy Policies Have Drawn Criticism
Apple positions itself as a privacy protector, but some claim that its own advertising goals are based on anti-competitive methods.
Last month, two developers going by the name of “Mysk” alleged that Apple was monitoring every tap customers made on the App Store and that there was no way to turn the feature off.
Following that, a class action complaint asserting that Apple‘s “promises respecting privacy are utterly untrue” was launched in California.
The corporation has not commented and did not answer AFP’s inquiries.
Apple, meanwhile, has always opposed advertising on its platforms and has made customer privacy protection a core aspect of its brand.
When it provided users the ability to simply prohibit apps from gathering data on them, it threw a wrench in the works of the surveillance capitalism system last year.
That decision was a nightmare for many applications, from large ones like Facebook to fledgling ones that provide tailored ads.
Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, warned that the shift might reduce its income by $10 billion for the year in early 2022. This warning contributed enormously to Meta’s falling share price (down 38 percent on the year) and last month’s decision to lay off 11,000 employees.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, stated last week that Apple‘s strategy had a “conflict of interest” given that it was intended to offend adversaries.
The ability of one business to decide which app experiences come up on a device is worrisome, he added. “Apple earns the vast majority of the earnings from the mobile ecosystem.”
