Meta has detailed the extent to which Apple’s iOS privacy update is set to damage its business, estimating a $10 billion impact on sales in 2022. This came after the social media company saw its shares fall in after-hours trading having reported mixed Q4 results.
Apple’s iOS 14.5 update included an App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature that has had a significant impact on digital advertising. ATT requires app developers to obtain permission from a user in order to track their activity across other apps and websites when using an Apple product.
Meta and Snap, another social media firm known for Snapchat, complained that this update is impacting on their revenues. Both businesses have seen disruption to the behind-the-scenes mechanics of mobile ads, particularly ones that confirm a purchase or download.
Meta’s CFO, David Wehner, has also said that Google is subjected to a different set of restrictions from Apple, implying that the Cupertino company has an incentive to favor Google because the latter pays Apple billions of dollars to be the default search engine on iOS devices.