Apple's Privacy Features Have Cost Social Media Companies Nearly $10 Billion in Revenue

[ColeWorld]

Summary

As a result of its privacy features, Apple has cost social media companies including Meta, formerly known as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube, nearly $10 billion in revenue in the second half of 2021, according to an investigation by the Financial Times.

 

Quotes

Quote

Lotame, an advertising technology company whose clients include The Weather Company and McClatchy, estimated that the four tech platforms lost 12 percent of revenue in the third and fourth quarters, or $9.85bn. Snap fared the worst as a percentage of its business because of its focus on smartphones, while Facebook lost the most in absolute terms because of its size.

 

My thoughts

Absolutely a win for consumers who don't want to unwillingly keep giving their data to these platforms. Apple probably deserves more credit here for implementing these features, that many users don't even notice but still benefit from.

 

Sources

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/01/apple-privacy-social-media-companies/

https://www.ft.com/content/4c19e387-ee1a-41d8-8dd2-bc6c302ee58e (PAY WALL)

[Radium_Angel]

cool

[Ravendarat]

Should be considered a win facilitated by Apple, but many wont.

[Curufinwe_wins]

In a research note Tuesday, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi does a deep dive into Apple’s ad business. While the company doesn’t talk about the business much and provides little disclosure, Sacconaghi estimates that Apple will generate about $3 billion in ad revenue in the September 2021 fiscal year, up from about $300 million in fiscal 2017. He thinks the total could grow to the $7 billion-to-$10 billion-a-year range by fiscal 2023 or 2024, boosting growth in Apple’s services business as much as three percentage points.

 

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Don't think this has anything to do with giving a shit about privacy on Apple's part. 

 

They have consistently shown not to actually care when it comes to profit. See PROC owning the servers and encryption keys for all Apple traffic in and out of China.

 

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Edit: sigh, yes it is good that this is default behavior, but assuming altruism when Apple has a huge stake in the game and has repeatedly demonstrated through actions that they don't actually care. They merely want to be able to market and put up a facade of caring.

[suicidalfranco]

hurt the competition and greatly profited from that 

[Dracarris]

1 hour ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

In a research note Tuesday, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi does a deep dive into Apple’s ad business. While the company doesn’t talk about the business much and provides little disclosure, Sacconaghi estimates that Apple will generate about $3 billion in ad revenue in the September 2021 fiscal year, up from about $300 million in fiscal 2017. He thinks the total could grow to the $7 billion-to-$10 billion-a-year range by fiscal 2023 or 2024, boosting growth in Apple’s services business as much as three percentage points.

As long as that revenue isn't made through tracking-based ads (without user consent) I am fine with that. 

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

In a research note Tuesday, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi does a deep dive into Apple’s ad business. While the company doesn’t talk about the business much and provides little disclosure, Sacconaghi estimates that Apple will generate about $3 billion in ad revenue in the September 2021 fiscal year, up from about $300 million in fiscal 2017. He thinks the total could grow to the $7 billion-to-$10 billion-a-year range by fiscal 2023 or 2024, boosting growth in Apple’s services business as much as three percentage points.

 

---

 

Don't think this has anything to do with giving a shit about privacy on Apple's part. 

 

They have consistently shown not to actually care when it comes to profit. See PROC owning the servers and encryption keys for all Apple traffic in and out of China.

 

---

Edit: sigh, yes it is good that this is default behavior, but assuming altruism when Apple has a huge stake in the game and has repeatedly demonstrated through actions that they don't actually care. They merely want to be able to market and put up a facade of caring.

It does care, but I see Apple as being pragmatic. It either operates in China and provides a slightly higher level of privacy or loses out and worsens privacy for Chinese residents.

 

Look at it this way: in Xinjiang, Chinese officials can only inspect travelers' iPhones at checkpoints. With Android phones, they can install a surveillance app and track you throughout your stay. Both situations suck, but if I had to live in China I'd only ever use an iPhone... it mitigates the damage.

[Curufinwe_wins]

2 hours ago, Commodus said:

It does care, but I see Apple as being pragmatic. It either operates in China and provides a slightly higher level of privacy or loses out and worsens privacy for Chinese residents.

 

Look at it this way: in Xinjiang, Chinese officials can only inspect travelers' iPhones at checkpoints. With Android phones, they can install a surveillance app and track you throughout your stay. Both situations suck, but if I had to live in China I'd only ever use an iPhone... it mitigates the damage.

They don't need an app. The chinese gov literally runs the apple servers hosting all personal data for every user as well as having the encryption keys to the supposedly safe data there as well. There is 0 damage mitigation. Every ping to Apple services within the country can (and likely is) be intercepted including that sacred location data the same way location is tied to all the rest of the data being logged.

 

Quote

In China, Apple has ceded legal ownership of its customers’ data to Guizhou-Cloud Big Data, or GCBD, a company owned by the government of Guizhou Province, whose capital is Guiyang. Apple recently required its Chinese customers to accept new iCloud terms and conditions that list GCBD as the service provider and Apple as “an additional party.” Apple told customers the change was to “improve iCloud services in China mainland and comply with Chinese regulations.”

The terms and conditions included a new provision that does not appear in other countries: “Apple and GCBD will have access to all data that you store on this service” and can share that data “between each other under applicable law.”

Under the new setup, Chinese authorities ask GCBD — not Apple — for Apple customers’ data, Apple said. Apple believes that gives it a legal shield from American law, according to a person who helped create the arrangement.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-censorship-data.html

[Curufinwe_wins]

2 hours ago, Dracarris said:

As long as that revenue isn't made through tracking-based ads (without user consent) I am fine with that. 

Except that using Apple's services includes consenting to tracking based ads, though with more vague terms and conditions to how exactly they go about things there (with the caveat that the things Apple says you are agreeing to seem to be dramatically more than what  Apple actively uses).

 

Additionally, one big thing FB and the rest are angry about is that Apple is allowing significantly greater tracking and metadata analysis for its own first party ad service than for anyone else.

 

FB/Google etc can be terrible about user privacy and Apple can be talking out of both ends to maximize profit at the same time. The two situations are not mutually exclusive.

 

Hell even the Apple 'nutrition labels' are chalk full of double standards in that Apple can conveniently bury its own disclosures on its websites while forcing everyone else to put it on the app store itself that way the comparison to end users is intentionally misleading.

[CephDigital]

+1 point to apple

[Spindel]

Apple cures cancer!

 

- B..b..but Apple made 1 billion in profit

 

 

Apple solves world hunger!

 

- B..b..but Alphabet donated money to a dog shelter in my home city one time 20 years ago

 

 

Apple solves clean infinite energy!

 

- B..b..but this one Android phone has better battery than iPhone

 

[Lightwreather]

This is great imo. BUt I have feeling this thread will get derailed quick. (sad)

[Vishera]

This is great but considering that Apple collects data about their users themselves... The hypocrisy...

For some reason Apple believes that they are the only ones who should have your data. Aspiring for a monopoly on user data perhaps?

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, Spindel said:

Apple cures cancer!

 

- B..b..but Apple made 1 billion in profit

Well then obviously they should have cured 2 cancers not just 1 

 

  

1 hour ago, Spindel said:

Apple solves clean infinite energy!

 

- B..b..but this one Android phone has better battery than iPhone

You mean this one?

 

[Lightwreather]

23 minutes ago, Vishera said:

Aspiring for a monopoly on user data perhaps?

WOuld probably make it easier to enforce data collection regulation /s

[WolframaticAlpha]

3 hours ago, Spindel said:

-snip-

reductio ad absurdum at it's finest.

[Dracarris]

25 minutes ago, WolframaticAlpha said:

reductio ad absurdum at it's finest.

Not really. More like a summary of the cumulative efforts of a subgroup within this forum to find sth to crap on Apple every time there appears remotely positive news about them.

[hishnash]

3 hours ago, Vishera said:

This is great but considering that Apple collects data about their users themselves... The hypocrisy...

For some reason Apple believes that they are the only ones who should have your data. Aspiring for a monopoly on user data perhaps?

So the app tracking stuff does not stop facebook from getting data from users who sign in with facebook int e a Facebook (meta) owned app or even a third party app that uses Facebook login, since this is a clear situations were the user is connecting their information to facebook. 

It is only required were you open an app and at no point indication any connection to fb and yet our activity within that app is sent to Facebook and Facebook (suing other tracked information they have on you) join that onto your account (or shadow account). 

Apple collecting inflation on their users within the apps they use (when logged in to you apple account) is the same as facebook collecting animations when you're logged into facebook int eh Facebook/instagram app. 

If apple collecting information about your actions while using a random third party app without the user having any reason to think this info was being sent to apple then it would be an issue, but hey do not.  

[Kisai]

2 hours ago, hishnash said:

So the app tracking stuff does not stop facebook from getting data from users who sign in with facebook int e a Facebook (meta) owned app or even a third party app that uses Facebook login, since this is a clear situations were the user is connecting their information to facebook. 

It is only required were you open an app and at no point indication any connection to fb and yet our activity within that app is sent to Facebook and Facebook (suing other tracked information they have on you) join that onto your account (or shadow account). 

Apple collecting inflation on their users within the apps they use (when logged in to you apple account) is the same as facebook collecting animations when you're logged into facebook int eh Facebook/instagram app. 

If apple collecting information about your actions while using a random third party app without the user having any reason to think this info was being sent to apple then it would be an issue, but hey do not.  

Google, Microsoft and Firefox all track you. Google if you ever use gmail, and microsoft if you ever do anything that requires you to login to Edge. I'm literately afraid of changing things in my google and microsoft accounts because I don't want things to break or propagate to software I don't want that information in.

 

For example Minecraft. Why did Microsoft link the Xbox content with the Microsoft accounts. Good grief. 

Google, linking Stadia with the same accounts you use for email and youtube. What I foolish idea.

 

So crying about Apple linking your Apple device with your Apple services? At least I can change the name that Apple gaming services use so games I play aren't telling everyone my real name. Bloody Google and Microsoft can't even figure this out.

 

[Brooksie359]

23 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

hurt the competition and greatly profited from that 

That how you win. Also I am so surprised that they make that much money off of people's info. Like I was think it was something in the millions not billions. 

[HenrySalayne]

8 hours ago, Dracarris said:

Not really. More like a summary of the cumulative efforts of a subgroup within this forum to find sth to crap on Apple every time there appears remotely positive news about them.

Apple forced every company to ask permission for collecting personal data (good!), but excepted themselves because they feel like they are trustworthy. On top of that Apple pushed their own advertisement service.

Not being the worst, doesn't make Apple the good guy. There are good reasons for a "checks and balances" approach.

A more nuanced opinion about that matter would be quite healthy for the discussion and dealing in absolutes is completely out of line.

[Spindel]

8 minutes ago, HenrySalayne said:

Apple forced every company to ask permission for collecting personal data (good!), but excepted themselves because they feel like they are trustworthy. On top of that Apple pushed their own advertisement service.

Not being the worst, doesn't make Apple the good guy. There are good reasons for a "checks and balances" approach.

A more nuanced opinion about that matter would be quite healthy for the discussion and dealing in absolutes is completely out of line.

You do know iOS, iPadOS, TVOS and MacOS devices asks you if you want to share your data upon initial set up?

 

So not only are you completley wrong it is also an opt-in. And if you change your mind you can easley change those settings on the fly. 

[Jtalk4456]

me: *sees title

me: reads nothing else

me: "Good."
I don't need to read more, that's enough

[Roswell]

37 minutes ago, HenrySalayne said:

Apple forced every company to ask permission for collecting personal data (good!), but excepted themselves because they feel like they are trustworthy. On top of that Apple pushed their own advertisement service.

Not being the worst, doesn't make Apple the good guy. There are good reasons for a "checks and balances" approach.

A more nuanced opinion about that matter would be quite healthy for the discussion and dealing in absolutes is completely out of line.

Except they didn’t because they force you to opt-in or out whenever you set up a device. 
 

12 hours ago, Vishera said:

This is great but considering that Apple collects data about their users themselves... The hypocrisy...

For some reason Apple believes that they are the only ones who should have your data. Aspiring for a monopoly on user data perhaps?

They don’t collect anything unless you specifically opt-in. Even if you choose to opt-in for whatever reason, all they do is serve you targeted ads for apps, shows, etc. Also worth noting that they don’t collect any identifiable information at all under any circumstance.

[HenrySalayne]

24 minutes ago, Spindel said:

You do know iOS, iPadOS, TVOS and MacOS devices asks you if you want to share your data upon initial set up?

 

So not only are you completley wrong it is also an opt-in. And if you change your mind you can easley change those settings on the fly. 

So there is no telemetry or whatsoever being send to Apple? They know nothing about you? Your Apple ID is completely anonymous?

Apple is still collecting a whole bunch of data under the premiss that it's "necessary for their services to work properly". Every app you bought or downloaded must be recorded somewhere, as well as the movies your watching and the music your listening to.

Apple might not share this data with other entities but they will analyse and use this data internally. And don't be fooled, they will turn it into a financial gain somehow. So would every other company.