Personalised advertising, privacy are not at odds: FB tells Apple

San Francisco

Defending its personalised advertising approach, Facebook has said that it disagrees with Apples belief that personalisation and privacy are at odds.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has said in a tweet that Facebook can continue to track users across apps and websites as before, App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 will just require that they ask for your permission first.

According to Steve Satterfield, Privacy and Public Policy Director at Facebook, personalised advertising helps people discover new products and brands, and it enables businesses of all sizes, not just the ones with the biggest budgets, to reach people who are likely to be interested in what they offer.

"We disagree: personalisation doesn't have to come at the expense of privacy. We can do both, and we can do both well," Satterfield said in a blog post.

"We've built products that lead the industry in transparency and offer settings and controls to help people manage their privacy. Our products and data policies remain the best resources to understand our data practices," he added.

With full-page ads in leading US publications, Facebook is apparently trying to convince regulators to look at Apple's privacy changes.

Earlier, Apple hit back at Facebook, saying that the tech giant stands up for its users.

Apple had earlier postponed the full enforcement of privacy practices in iOS 14 until next year after Facebook went out in public against those changes.

Satterfield said that without personalised advertising, "many new products and services would never get off the ground or would cost more, and you'd see ads that are less relevant, less timely and, therefore, interest you less".

According to an image posted by Cook, iPhone users will have the option to either allow or disallow Facebook to track their activity across other companies' apps and websites.

Satterfield said Facebook will continue to work with industry partners and invest in building new privacy technology.

"We believe that with the right controls, we can preserve the value that both people and businesses get out of personalised advertising, while respecting privacy and empowering people to control their information online," he noted.