Facebook is trying to get users to chose to be tracked with the App Tracking Transparency feature
Do you really believe that Facebook was concerned about the future of small businesses with ATT enabled? The social media firm and its beleaguered Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg were probably more concerned about the future of Facebook; the latter is an advertising company more than it is a social media app.
The text on Facebook’s and Instagram’s pre-prompt pages say, “This version of iOS requires us to ask for permission to track some data from this device to improve your ads. Facebook and Instagram go on to say that thanks to the information it receives from tracking users, it shows ads that are more personalized while keeping Facebook (and Instagram) free of charge.” The insinuation is crystal clear: if you decide to disable tracking, you eventually might have to pay to use Facebook or Instagram.
We can see where Facebook might simply be explaining a business decision that it could have to make. On the other hand, Black’s Law Dictionary says that a Bribe is “the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty.” Facebook has not made a definitive offering, but as we said, the insinuation is clear.
Back in March, Facebook CEO Zuckerberg reversed his stance, saying that Facebook might actually benefit from ATT and stated that “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.” In other words, ATT could end up delivering more traffic to Facebook’s platforms.
