Apple’s CEO Tim Cook and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg are in a public feud over issues of data privacy. In a virtual conference, Tim Cook stressed his point on enhancing the protection of personal data for Apple device users.
He also called out social media companies for enabling widespread political misinformation, hate speech, conspiracy theorists, and the Capitol Hill riots. Mark Zuckerberg, who seems to be the most affected given that he represents the biggest social media platform Facebook, accused Apple of practicing unhealthy competition and that the device maker’s goal was “self-serving”.
So why does this battle matter from a solopreneur’s standpoint? Keep on scrolling to find out.
Apple’s Stance On Data Privacy
Image source: https://time.com/5569810/tim-cook-time-100-summit/
First, let’s start with how the fight started. Back in 2010, Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs answered a question regarding data privacy. His answer was, “Privacy means people know what they’re signing up for, in plain English and repeatedly.”
Mark Zuckerberg was there and he felt he was shot at because Facebook’s business model involves taking user data for targeted advertising. The way they take user data is by tracking your interaction on their platform to be calculated by their algorithms. And it’s mostly done without the knowledge of a Facebook user.
You would know about this if you read the Terms and Conditions of Facebook before signing up which is something that most of us don’t take time to do. However, Job’s point was that social media platforms should inform a user every time their app is taking private data and how that data is used.
Fast forward to the first quarter of 2021, Tim Cook sticks to the vision of Jobs and proposes a new privacy bill that gives the user the option to restrict tracking. Apple has already done this with their iOS14 and Big Sur update. You’ll notice this through pop-ups of your iPhone or Apple device telling that the app you’re using is tracking your behavior.
How is Facebook affected by Apple’s sentiment?
Image source: https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/why-mark-zuckerberg-is-so-obsessed-with-apple.html
Since Facebook makes most of its revenue from advertising, the proposed data privacy bill, iOS14, and Big Sur update will cause massive losses for Facebook because their advertising algorithms cannot function at their full potential.
Apple’s mission isn’t to give Facebook a hard time. As always, they want their users to feel secure when using their devices. They want their users to be able to think for themselves and not be behavior-influenced by the algorithms of applications.
However, Facebook defends its business model by siding with small business owners paying to advertise their ventures. But public opinion doesn’t favor Facebook in this fight. Because they have been in a variety of privacy problems such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
What does data privacy mean for small business owners?
In digital advertising, you pay social media platforms, search engines, or streaming services to run ads for your business. But because of the data privacy restrictions, your ads have high chances of landing on the wrong prospect making you waste a ton of advertising money.
For example, if you own a pizza parlor and you set your ads to target a demographic in a specified area, your ads will end up on the newsfeed of people outside that area. This is because the privacy policy will prevent the app from tracking users based on location.
Facebook isn’t the only company to be affected by this. Google, Amazon, Shopify, and many more will feel the blow of the data privacy war. You might be thinking that not everyone uses an Apple device so the impact of data privacy wouldn’t hurt you that much.
However, you must consider that the majority of the US population are Apple users. More than half to be exact and that number will continue to grow as people would want to have more privacy on the web. There is also a looming problem that other tech companies will follow.
Online platforms have been useful tools to provide us with entertainment, connect with loved ones, and share interesting ideas. But they have been left unchecked causing a variety of society’s problems.
The question is, which side are you on? Are you with Apple’s push for online security? Or are you with Zuckerberg’s disregard of privacy for commercial growth? Whichever your answer is, one thing is for certain: This feud of tech giants will change the way online commerce is done.
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Cover image source: https://www.gizchina.com/2020/11/27/apple-vs-facebook-why-are-technically-non-competitors-at-loggerheads/
