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As more and more iPhone users opt out of tracking on their devices, Apple’s new privacy features continue to impact Facebook. A year after launch, another amazing blow to Facebook is likely to make the revenue hit even bigger than previously thought.According to a new analysis, iPhone makers App tracking transparency The (ATT) feature will cost Facebook $ 12.8 billion in 2022.

In February, I report How Apple’s ATT privacy feature, launched in iOS 14.5, costs more than $ 10 billion to social networks. As iPhone users begin to take an interest in privacy and Apple CEO Tim Cook continues to drive this area in its marketing, more and more people are refusing to track on the iPhone.This is causing the drop Estimated For iOS advertisers, it’s about 15% to 20%.

According to new data published by Lotame, Apple’s ATT changes will have the biggest impact on Facebook. Lotame forecasts a $ 16 billion impact on revenue, of which YouTube will record a $ 2.2 billion hit. In comparison, Snap is $ 546 million and Twitter is $ 323 million.

The ATT iPhone privacy feature limits app tracking by revoking access to the advertiser’s ID (IDFA), which is a unique code assigned to each user. If you say no to tracking, advertisers will receive a zero string instead of a code, which Apple can monitor at a technical level.

But is Apple’s ATT as good as it looks?

Still, since its inception, some clever developers have, of course, tried to circumvent Apple’s privacy features. This is highlighted by Lockdown Privacy, an anti-tracking app that called ATT “functionally useless” last year. Another study, according to Ars Technica, shows that loopholes in Apple’s ATT framework allow large companies such as Facebook and Google to collect large amounts of their own data.

“Our findings suggest that tracking companies, especially large companies with access to large amounts of their own data, are tracking users behind the scenes,” the researchers write. This can be done in a variety of ways, including using IP addresses to link installation-specific IDs between apps, or using the sign-in features provided by individual apps such as Google and Facebook sign-ins and email addresses. It happens in various ways.

“In particular, we’ve confirmed that data is still widely collected by tracking companies, and in combination with additional user and device characteristics, it’s possible to analyze user behavior across apps and websites (ie). , Fingerprints and cohort tracking) “, the researchers said. “Therefore, as a direct result of ATT, the existing power imbalances in the digital tracking ecosystem can be strengthened.”

Given that the iPhone’s privacy features are hurting billions of dollars in revenue, ATT is certainly working to some extent. There are always developers trying to get around the iPhone maker’s rules, so perhaps that aspect is better monitored and Apple could close the loophole. Apple’s ATT is certainly not perfect, but it’s the beginning when people are interested in Facebook and other data-intensive habits.

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