Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) Accuses Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Of Hurting Small Business With New Privacy Feature

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has accused Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) of harming small business by cutting off merchants from customers after the iPhone maker introduced new policies that limit personalized ads on its products.

iOS 14 has tracking features preventing personalized ads

The row between the social media giant and Apple began following the launch of the latest iOS version. The operating system comes with a new transparency tracking feature which Facebook says will cripple the ability to serve personalized ads. Facebook argues that the change to make it easier for advertisers to track iPhone users will unfairly hurt small businesses that depend on personalized ads reaching customers and finding new ones. The company said that its internal research established that small businesses received 60% less in sales if they don’t use targeted advertising that Apple is limiting.

Dan Levy, Facebook’s VP for Business Products and Ads, criticized Apple’s motive behind the move which benefits its bottom line. Levy said that Apple was being ant-competitive by using its power over the Apple Store to bolster its bottom line at the expense of small business and app developers. He explained that the move is about control of the internet and attempts to control targeted ads. Facebook took whole newspaper page ads and launched a website, Speak up for small businesses” to drum for support.

Apple says the new change is for protecting users’ privacy

Apple spokesperson, Fred Sainz said in a statement that their move is simply standing up for its users. He added that the new changes in the latest iOS version don’t prevent Facebook from offering the same tracking it has offered before.Sainz added that the changes rather requires the company to offer users a choice. The iPhone maker says it is not making the changes to bolster its bottom line but instead the changes are for enhancing users’ privacy which Apple says is a basic human right.

Jane Horvath, Apple’s Global Privacy director dismissed Facebook’s allegations that the changes will harm small businesses. She said that the data arms race mostly benefits big businesses having large data sets.