Hello and welcome to News Explained. This is your host Siddharth Mathew.  

Recently, Facebook ran full-page advertisements in major newspapers criticizing Apple's plans to limit the ability of the Facebook mobile app to gather data from people's phones. The data could be used for targeted advertising. 

Facebook has accused rival Apple Inc of engaging in anti-competitive practices in a month-long standoff between the two tech giants over Apple's planned privacy changes for iOS14. 

Facebook Vice President for Ads and Business Products Dan Levy said: 

“Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using their control of the App Store to benefit their bottom line at the expense of creators and small businesses” 

Levy also said that although Facebook disagreed with Apple's approach, it would comply with the new rules and display a prompt. He said:  

“We don't have a choice if we want our app to be available in the App Store.” 

 But Apple said that its new rules will not require Facebook to change its approach to tracking users and creating targeted advertising.  

Instead, it requires Facebook to give users on Apple devices a choice of whether to opt into those practices.  

In a statement, Apple said: 

“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”  

Apple's own personalized ad platform would be exempt from the new prompt requirement the iPhone maker is planning to impose on other companies.  

In June 2020, Apple said that such activity will require a pop-up notification asking iOS users for permission to track them across apps and websites owned by other companies.  

Facebook and Apple have also tangled over commission fees the iPhone maker charges apps listed on iOS devices, with Facebook again aligning itself with small developers most affected by the policy. Facebook previously tried to push a notification to its users about Apple's fees but said Apple rejected its ”transparency notice.” 

Stay tuned for more episodes.