In light of the wave of criticisms directed at Apple’s renewed privacy push that includes implementations like App Tracking Transparency prompts and App Privacy Labels in the App Store, CEO Tim Cook spoke to The New York Times’ Kara Swisher in a yet-to-be-released interview stating that “it’s hard to argue against” privacy.
“I’ve been shocked that there’s been a pushback to this degree,” he said.
Apple is set to release its widely discussed App Tracking Transparency prompts alongside the official launch of iOS 14.5 expected as soon as this month. The new privacy prompt asks users if they want to let app developers access their unique identifier that can be used by ad agencies to serve personalized ads.
When Kara asked Tim Cook for his response to Facebook’s response calling Apple an existential crisis to their business, he replied:
“All we’re doing Kara is giving the user the choice whether to be tracked or not. And I think it’s hard to argue against that. I’ve been—I’ve been shocked that there’s been a pushback on this to this degree.”
Facebook, for one, has been criticizing the implementation of App Tracking Transparency ever since Apple announced it. The social media giant even put out full-page newspaper ads criticizing the feature.
However, Facebook is now believed to have changed course with CEO Mark Zuckerberg stating that the new privacy changes in iOS 14 may actually benefit Facebook.
“It’s possible that we may even be in a stronger position if Apple’s changes encourage more businesses to conduct more commerce on our platforms by making it harder for them to use their data in order to find the customers that would want to use their products outside of our platforms,” Zuckerberg said.
In her interview with Tim, Kara also asked him about his thoughts on the impact the upcoming privacy changes will have on Facebook’s business to which Tim replied: “I’m not focused on Facebook, so I don’t know.”
Burn!
Kara’s interview with Tim Cook is about to release on Monday, April 12 on her “Sway” podcast. She also hinted towards Tim enlightening us about his Tim Apple nickname in the interview, so we know it’s gonna be fun. Alongside that, Tim also talks about Parler’s removal from the App Store and more.
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