Apple and Meta Are Squabbling Again. This Is Why.
By
Adam Levine
In this article
AAPL
META
The Facebook app on an iPhone 14. (Dreamstime)
Apple
AAPL
and Meta
META
Platforms are spatting again, this time over European Union regulations.
Apple and Meta have been arguing over user privacy since 2021, when Apple launched App Tracking Transparency, which gave iPhone users greater control over how apps tracked them for advertising purposes. While before that move, an app could track users across other apps and websites, generating valuable data a company could use to make advertising more effective, Apple’s shift allowed the public to block that tracking.
Meta apps were some of the biggest users of this cross-app tracking, so the change hurt Meta’s sales in 2022. Through a variety of technical means, and by showing more ads to users, Meta was able to get back to revenue growth in 2023.
Now, according to Apple, Meta is using EU regulations to regain access to some of that crucial data.
Like other U.S. big tech companies, Apple is now subject to the rules of the EU Digital Markets Act, which include provisions that require Apple to make its operating systems interoperable with third-party devices in the same ways that Apple devices are.
In a blog post on Wednesday evening, Apple claimed that Meta is seeking to use the interoperability required by the EU to tap into the data of iOS users. It said that if the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, grants Meta’s requests, Meta will have access to iOS users’ messages, emails, phone logs, app usage, photos, calendars, and passwords.
In response, Meta directed Barron’s to two posts on X, formerly Twitter. Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, homed in on interoperability. “If you paid for an iPhone you should be annoyed that Apple won’t give you the power to decide what accessories you use with it!” he wrote. “You paid a lot of money for that computer and it could be doing so much more for you but they handicap it to preference their own accessories (which are not always the best!).”
In the second post, Meta spokesman Andy Stone claims Apple is being disingenuous. “Here’s what Apple is actually saying: they don’t believe in interoperability,” he said. “In fact, every time Apple is called out for anticompetitive behavior, they defend themselves on privacy grounds that have no basis in reality.”
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