Facebook has attacked Apple on several occasions regarding anti-tracking with iOS 14. There have been two advertisements in the American newspapers (here and there). But the employees of the social network are not happy with this campaign.
BuzzFeed obtained internal comments from Facebook employees about the attack on Apple. “It is as if we are trying to justify a bad deed by hiding behind people with a message of sympathy”, said an engineer. The message of sympathy in question is the Covid-19. Facebook claims that iOS 14 anti-tracking will hurt small businesses during the health crisis. Advertisements will be less or not targeted, hence this position.
Misunderstandings among Facebook employees for the attack on Apple
Facebook employees also held a meeting to discuss the attack on Apple. Some asked questions during this meeting. One of them wondered if this argument to protect small businesses is not going to be seen as “Facebook is trying to protect its own business”. Another note that people want privacy. However, Facebook offers anything but such respect.
Graham Mudd, Facebook’s vice president of product marketing, responded. It ensures that the social network is “Really clear” on the fact that the change of iOS 14 will hurt small businesses and its own platform.
We’re not trying to sweep it under the rug. We’re, you know, a big, profitable company and we’re going to get out of it and adapt our products and so on. But the real people who are going to be affected by this are the small businesses. And that’s why we made them the center of the message.
Several employees are not convinced that the attack on Apple is going in the right direction. An employee explained that Facebook cannot be the only company to track everyone without their agreement. At the same time, employees denounce the hypocrisy of Facebook. The group says it supports small businesses. But at the same time, he mistakenly deactivated the ad accounts of several of them. His solution to fixing the situation is not dialogue, but an automated system. This has prompted small businesses to complain publicly.
Facebook’s response to this case
A Facebook spokesperson was keen to defend the company in its attack on Apple:
Since the launch of this effort, we’ve heard from small businesses around the world who are concerned about how these changes could hurt their businesses. As this is a critical time for SMEs, we will continue to share these stories with the public and our employees.
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