What you need to know
- Facebook's parent company Meta has blasted privacy changes made by Apple earlier this year.
- Global Affairs head Nick Clegg said the move was a commercial land grab.
- He also claimed it was a flagrant example of double standards.
Sir Nick Clegg, global affairs head at Meta, the newly-renamed parent company of Facebook, says that Apple's privacy changes made in iOS 14 were a commercial land grab and a flagrant example of double standards.
As noted by The Times Clegg made the comments during a virtual appearance at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon where he said "this is an old-fashioned commercial land grab where they are using their dominant position in one of the leading operating systems to tilt the scales in their favor."
He went on to say that Apple's motives were "not some highfalutin, high-minded reason" and that Meta thought it was "a flagrant example of double standards." Changes made earlier this year by Apple made tracking using an IDFA identifier across different apps and services an opt-in feature for users. Most people are opting out, CEO Tim Cook recently told investors the response to its changes had been overwhelmingly positive. Companies have shown mixed responses to the changes, recently Alphabet (Google) and Twitter reported that they had avoided significant hits to their revenue, however, Snapchat missed out on its earnings target as a result and Facebook (now Meta) has continued to warn of significant uncertainty and continued headwinds with regard to the changes.
Apple has drawn some criticism over the move, as it has been suggested the changes will push advertisers to spend more on Apple's own advertising platforms.
