Facebook hits back at Apple with a second full-page newspaper ad today, says upcoming iOS changes will “change the internet as we know it - for the worse”

Facebook isn't done criticizing Apple just yet — Facebook is stepping up its campaign against Apple's privacy changes with a second full-page newspaper ad today.

The Verge 2020-12-17 Tom Warren

Context & Ripple Effects

This is day two of an open fight between two of tech's biggest platforms. Facebook ran its first full-page newspaper ads on December 16, framing Apple's upcoming iOS 14 limits on data gathering and targeted advertising as an attack on small businesses, and today's second ad escalates the rhetoric to civilizational stakes — "change the internet as we know it - for the worse".

The campaign is drawing scrutiny beyond the ad copy itself: The New York Times reads it as Facebook concluding that shamelessness works, after years of aligning with the Trump administration. What makes the fight worth tracking is that Facebook later quantified the cost itself, warning in October 2021 of "continued headwinds" from Apple's ATT changes even as Q3 ad revenue grew 33% YoY to $28.28B.

First-order effects

Facebook is spending on a print PR blitz to pressure Apple before iOS 14's privacy changes ship, casting itself as the defender of small businesses that depend on targeted ads.
Apple faces a public-opinion test of ATT ahead of rollout, but nothing in the coverage suggests it is wavering on the changes.

Second-order effects

Advertisers and small businesses get an early, polarized framing of what ATT means for their targeting budgets, forcing them to pick sides or hedge before the update lands.
The feud hands other platforms and ad-tech players a template for contesting Apple's rules through narrative rather than compliance alone.

Third-order effects

If platform-level privacy defaults hold, mobile advertising economics shift from third-party data gathering toward whatever alternatives Apple permits — a structural rebalancing that Facebook's own later revenue warnings confirm was real, not just rhetoric.

The trend: Platform gatekeepers' privacy decisions are becoming public opinion battles, with affected ad businesses fighting the rules in newspapers rather than courtrooms.

Discussion

@gadgetsboy Tomi Adebayo on x
Facebook worried they can't make more money tracking users 🙄 https://twitter.com/...
@hkanji Hussein Kanji on x
And people say Facebook has hurt the newspaper advertising industry. They're contributing! https://daringfireball.net/...
@arainert @arainert on x
Wild. Wilder still is that the average Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp user couldn't care less. https://twitter.com/...
@ldrogen Leigh Drogen on x
I want to read the inside story on why Apple wussed out on making Facebook comply with an amazing and game changing new policy for apps in its ecosystem which would have kneecapped Facebook Why didn't they go through with it? https://twitter.com/...
@s_oehler Shannon on x
@JohnPaczkowski @BuzzFeedNews claiming to stand up for small biz?! they're the largest ad platform and feel threatened do they think we are stupid.
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
this is the new iOS 14 prompt that's at the center of a massive battle between Apple and Facebook. Apple is defending its iOS 14 privacy changes as “standing up for our users,” and Facebook has criticized these changes with full-page newspaper ads https://www.theverge.com/... htt…
@dhh @dhh on x
And of course they need to drape themselves in “we're just here for small business” because they're the biggest pirates of privacy. I mean, look at this list! https://twitter.com/...
@morfid_plays Jon Doyle on x
Good to see indies sticking together https://twitter.com/...
@timsweeneyepic Tim Sweeney on x
Apple seems to love user choice when it's used against competitors like Facebook, but opposes choice when it means other companies competing with them: choice in app stores, choice in payment methods, choice in game streaming services. https://twitter.com/...
@cheratomo @cheratomo on x
I was originally interested in what changes Epic could prompt to the App store for both Google and Apple. I think change there is good. But now that Facebook is using this to demand Apple not allow users to opt out of tracking because “it's vital to small businesses?” Nooo. /end
@can Can Duruk on x
At this point if you are a Facebook employee still using an iPhone, you are a traitor. Sorry, I don't make the rules. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@jstrauss J-Strizzle on x
$FB and $AAPL are like the US and USSR in the mid-20th century, but arguably even more powerful and less accountable. Expect more flare ups and proxy battles as this Cold War continues. https://twitter.com/...
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
Cook and Zuckerberg are both right, and also this beef is dumb but I love it. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@karissabe Karissa Bell on x
Reminder that Facebook was sued by the FTC and 48 states for antitrust *one week ago* https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
Apple exposing all the ways Facebook tracks you with it iOS app is really quite something https://twitter.com/...
@johnpaczkowski John Paczkowski on x
So Facebook plans to run a second anti-Apple ad tomorrow. This one will claim Apple is trying to stop the internet from being free. Here's some draft text
@mosseri @mosseri on x
Personalized ads are an important tool for small businesses to identify and connect with their customers in a way that only big budgets allowed before. This is particularly important right now, given all the challenge that small businesses face. (1/3)
@waltmossberg Walt Mossberg on x
The king of privacy theft, @Facebook, is running ads attacking @Apple, the leader in privacy protection. All because Apple is shifting to an opt-in system from an opt-out system for users to allow data sharing with advertisers. FB must fear folks won't opt in. I wonder why.
@mosseri @mosseri on x
Privacy must be respected in building advertising tools, and we're focused on transparency and control. But privacy doesn't need to come at the expense of the livelihoods of small businesses and developers. (2/3)
@davestangis Dave Stangis on x
I'm pretty certain #Facebook is fighting #Apple to retain access to personal data. #PID #privacy. #fullpagead #wsj https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
Apple's response, complete with a graphic Apple created: “We believe that this is a simple matter of standing up for our users. Users should know when their data is being collected and shared across other apps and websites — and they should have the choice to allow that or not.” …
@fbnewsroom @fbnewsroom on x
We're standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere. #SpeakUpForSmall https://about.fb.com/...
@mkarolian @mkarolian on x
I run one of the largest free news websites in New England. We are virtually 100% dependent on digital advertising and this message from Facebook is totally bunk. Hyper-personalized ads primarily benefit Facebook, not “sports blogs” or “cooking sites” https://twitter.com/...
@ralphhhenson Ralph Henson on x
@Kantrowitz @mat . In Apples case, it IS and has ALWAYS been about privacy. Facebook and Google make money selling ADS. Apple makes monty selling hardware and apps. .
@rsgnl Joe Rossignol on x
This upcoming prompt in iOS 14 is 100% reasonable to me, so it's hard to side on Facebook with this one. What is the solution for small businesses that will see their revenue impacted, though? Too bad, so sad, because privacy is ultimately more important? https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
Facebook blasting Apple over Apple's upcoming privacy changes in iOS14 in plain, public view. I question whether FB's message — that clamping down on data for ad targeting will hurt small businesses — is going to land with people, or backfire. https://www.facebook.com/...
@moonalice Roger McNamee on x
I marvel at the clumsiness of FB's PR. By running full page ads that are transparently disingenuous will call attention to a change that Apple itself has barely mentioned. https://www.theverge.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
It's easy to beat up on Instagram (Reels!) but the point about small business is absolutely true - something like 2/3 to 3/4 of Facebook and Google advertisers are small businesses who never advertised before, and certainly not with this efficiency https://twitter.com/...
@larakiara Lara O'Reilly on x
I think the most interesting part of Facebook's big anti-Apple advertising/PR/lobbying push today is that Axios made the video for Facebook's microsite (if you open the full pic you'll see it says “made in partnership with Axios) https://www.facebook.com/... https://twitter.com/.…
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
Exactly. And not just opt-in to sharing with advertisers but opt-in to share with Facebook, too. Major regulator has found a majority of Facebook's data collection happens when users are on other companies' apps/websites and not even intending to interact with Facebook. https://t…
@carolecadwalla Carole Cadwalladr on x
I'm sort of fascinated in what is happening inside @nick_clegg's department at Facebook. In the week, that FTC launches major legal challenge, FB's response is a knocking campaign against Apple that the entire internet thinks is deeply fraudulent https://twitter.com/...
@blackamazon @blackamazon on x
They won't let organize my TL, prioritize my interests, volunteer data or make any conscious preferences but sure it's Apple https://twitter.com/...
@emdubin @emdubin on x
Absolutely insane. “We need to make businesses completely reliant on personalized ads or else we'll choke their reach so we can continue to harvest user data” https://twitter.com/...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
Facebook is going to lose the public argument over Apple's new privacy pop-ups. But that doesn't mean there isn't an important story here about one company's ability to unilaterally reshape the digital economy on its own terms https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twitter.com/…
@davepell Dave Pell on x
Big tech companies are so big that the only thing that can threaten them is big tech companies. https://twitter.com/...
@wolfiechristl Wolfie Christl on x
Never ever believe any giant corp that claims to ‘stand up for small businesses’ #badpropaganda https://twitter.com/...
@mosseri Adam Mosseri on x
Read more about the impact of Apple's iOS14 policy and its implications here: https://about.fb.com/... (3/3)
@alexlindsay @alexlindsay on x
Facebook is telling us that Apple should not protect our privacy so that they can sell us more stuff with ads. I'm not sure that is a “modern” argument.
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
A Facebook executive said to employees yesterday at a company-wide meeting that “transparency and accountability” are at the heart of everything they do. In the spirit of that, they should have no problem with a notification like this from Apple. https://twitter.com/...
@allenholub Allen Holub on x
Cry me a river. Apple to prevent Facebook and others from collecting your personal data without your permission. Facebook objects! Shocking. Facebook criticizes Apple's iOS privacy changes with full-page newspaper ads https://www.theverge.com/...
@moonalice Roger McNamee on x
@ShiraOvide @jacknicas @MikeIsaac @ShiraOvide I wonder if Apple needs FB as much as FB needs Apple. If FB apps go away, Apple users can use a browser to access FB. (I do this for privacy reasons.) If iPhones are not available for its apps, FB loses access to a lot of data that it…
@iamtherog Roger on x
This is, frankly, some disgusting, cynical shit from Facebook. Apple is trying to implement software that prevents apps like Facebook from collecting private user data like location and browsing history and Facebook is LYING and saying it's about the “freedom of the internet.” ht…
@jeremybmerrill Jeremy B. Merrill on x
Let's just count our blessings, at least Facebook didn't accuse Apple of doing a Cambridge Analytica by disclosing the workings of Facebook's iOS app. 🙄
@joshuajames @joshuajames on x
“The end justifies the means”, Facebook Edition. https://twitter.com/...
@samfbiddle Sam Biddle on x
this is genuinely one of the most cynical things I've ever read https://twitter.com/...
@bdsams Brad Sams on x
Facebook...protector of the small businesses Top ten joke of 2020 https://twitter.com/...
@amy_siskind @amy_siskind on x
I made the switch to Apple's Big Sur OS and am hoping it spells the end of Facebook - or at least hobbles their profitability model severely. https://twitter.com/...
@kfury @kfury on x
Imagine the horrors of an Internet where cooking websites ran ads for utensils and gourmet ingredients instead of that Hello Kitty vibrator you looked at once on Amazon that your friend thought you'd get a kick out of and now blazons the ad spaces of every page you visit. https:/…
@jasperboerstra Jappa on x
All these big companies pretending they care about small businesses is the biggest joke ever. Remember who your true allies are! *it's not facebook or burger king https://twitter.com/...
@alexhern Alex Hern on x
I wish Facebook would just tell us how much privacy we're supposed to give up to help small businesses.
@jeremiahjw @jeremiahjw on x
If Facebook cares so much about small businesses suffering during this pandemic they should take the money they're spending on these ad campaigns and give it to small businesses as free advertising credit. 💅🏼 https://twitter.com/...
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
8/ If Facebook wants to make a case to the general public in support of personalized ads, it should make clear that freemium apps are absolutely dependent on them. That FB wants to protect small businesses is risible and somewhat absurd beyond the extent that those SMBs pay FB
@glennf Glenn Fleishman on x
Facebook, in front of the house with a megaphone: “The only person you are hurting is your family by not letting me speak directly to them.” Apple: { installs more soundproofing, additional locks }
@kentbye Kent Bye VoicesOfVR on x
The next phase of battle between Apple & Facebook. Apple now discloses all the ways Facebook app tracks you & asks for opt-in consent. This disrupts FB's surveillance capitalism model, which they say will kill small businesses in #SpeakUpForSmall campaign: https://www.theverge.co…
@glennf Glenn Fleishman on x
Facebook angry that Apple has locked the front door and won't let them barge in to talk to the children any more.
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
1/ Three big revelations: - Facebook will expose the ATT prompt to users; - Facebook will treat app-to-web campaigns with the same privacy rigor as app-to-app campaigns; - Facebook will work with MMPs around conversion value management.
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
this may be Facebook's worst read of a room EVER. Facebook comms pushing out propaganda one week after a landmark antitrust lawsuit on behalf of near every US state. Let's use small biz/voices during a pandemic and information crisis to try to stop Apple's privacy protections!!! …
@fboversight @fboversight on x
Feeling a little bit ✨exposed✨ @Facebook? https://twitter.com/...
@eric_seufert Eric Seufert on x
I am still analyzing Facebook's updated iOS14 guidance published today (overview article coming tomorrow), but biggest two takeaways: 1) app->web advertising will be impacted in the same way as app->app, and 2) I was wrong: FB is working with MMPs for conversion value management
@liviamcapital @liviamcapital on x
$FB vs $AAPL is one to watch over the next decade. I love both so it's hard to pick a side, but I truly believe $FB is providing the tools to help millions of small businesses survive. That impacts people, families, & communities. So important. https://www.facebook.com/...
@markoff John Markoff on x
I'm going with backfire https://twitter.com/...
@donie Donie O'Sullivan on x
This is probably the smartest thing Facebook has done to justify its surveillance capitalism business model. Using owners of small businesses to talk about how personalized ads are important to their business. https://www.facebook.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@brendonbigley Brendon Bigley on x
i want to goof on this facebook print ad but uber / lyft JUST ran an extremely successful (and expensive!!) propaganda campaign using a combo of old and new media ads to disintegrate workers rights https://twitter.com/...
@chronic Will Strafach on x
reminder: Apple is not preventing anyone from doing anything, they are simply telling them to ask permission to track and to disclose what data is collected. https://twitter.com/...
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
You don't find it a little convenient that Apple's main marketing message is a direct attack on the biggest threat to iMessage, a major lock in for its devices? https://twitter.com/...
@dhh @dhh on x
Lord knows I have my problems with Apple, but Facebook - of all fucking companies - taking a “why won't you think of the small business” line to defend its privacy plundering ways is nauseating 🤮 https://www.theverge.com/...
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
Gotta love this Facebook vs. Apple fight. They're telling us it's about privacy and small business. That's bullshit. The two are locked in a war between messaging apps and are trying to kneecap the other side. https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@reckless Nilay Patel on x
The Facebook / Apple fight over tracking is interesting, but Facebook's argument that small biz will be affected is strange. Actual marketers like Cadillac CMO @melgrady are pretty sanguine - here's what she told me on this week's DECODER: https://www.theverge.com/... https://twi…
@sandofsky Ben Sandofsky on x
Facebook calls Apple anticompetitive, one week after 48 states file lawsuits to break up Facebook. Read the room, you guys. Read the room. https://about.fb.com/...
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
It's true that Facebook engages in unfair tactics, but Apple is collecting the same data themselves while blocking FB from getting it. I don't think anyone should be able to use this data, neither Apple nor Facebook nor any powerful platform. It's not their confidential data! htt…
@alfredwkng @alfredwkng on x
Facebook cares about small businesses so much that they'll require them to spend $250k on ads every year to even know how effective they are https://twitter.com/...
@kevinroose Kevin Roose on x
Astroturfy messaging aside, it's interesting that Facebook's actual objection is that iOS will show users a “discouraging prompt” that requires them to opt into data collection. (It's “discouraging” because it lists the types of data Facebook collects.) https://twitter.com/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
Big picture: Facebook and Apple have real animosity that dates back to the Steve Jobs era (go google Ping if you're curious). But they are also deeply connected: Apple's customers certainly expect to have access to FB, Insta, Whatsapp on their phones.
@moonalice Roger McNamee on x
iPhones are becoming “digital face masks” ... they protect others as well as you. Surveillance capitalism has been unfettered for a decade ... by giving consumers “opt in” control over who gets their data, Apple is shifting the power, providing an oasis. https://twitter.com/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
So this fight is a real one - Apple's changes can definitely affect Facebook's ad revenue, especially its ad network on other sites - but not an existential one - Facebook's core ad business won't be changed by this.
@tonyromm Tony Romm on x
Facebook telling people to “speak up for small” just days after the government sued it for buying or killing small companies and becoming too big...... https://twitter.com/...
@jeremybmerrill Jeremy B. Merrill on x
translation: Facebook ads will be less effective—and thus businesses large and small will pay Facebook less for them—if Apple stops Facebook from surveilling what you do on your iPhone. https://twitter.com/...
@megancgraham Meg Graham on x
Facebook running these ads in WSJ, WaPo and NYT today decrying Apple's upcoming IDFA enforcement (explainer here: https://www.cnbc.com/...) Also has a new site about the change encouraging small businesses to “speak their mind”: https://www.facebook.com/... https://twitter.com/..…

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