A "relaxed" interpretation of Apple's privacy policy allows apps like Facebook and Snapchat to continue tracking users for targeted advertising, even if they have opted out of tracking, the Financial Times now reports.
In May, Apple introduced App Tracking Transparency, which allows users to opt out of being tracked by apps and websites for advertising purposes. Seven months after Apple introduced the feature, companies like Snapchat and Facebook are reportedly still allowed to share user-level iPhone "signals," provided the data is anonymized and aggregated and not directly linked to specific user profiles. The Financial Times reportedthat Apple's position is the result of an "unacknowledged shift that allows companies to follow a much looser interpretation of the controversial privacy guidelines." Apple has instructed developers that they "may not derive data from a device to uniquely identify it," which developers have interpreted to mean that they can instead observe "signals" and behaviors from groups of users so that tailored advertising can still be shown to those groups.
App tracking on iOS continues
Apple hasn't explicitly endorsed these techniques, but they allow third parties to track and analyze groups of users, regardless of whether they've consented to user-level tracking. Snapchat investors learned that the company plans to share data from its 306 million users with advertisers, including those who have asked the app not to track them, so they can get a "more complete, real-time view" of ad campaign success. Facebook is also undertaking a "multi-year effort" to rebuild its advertising infrastructure "with more aggregated or anonymized data," according to the company's CEO. In June, Apple was pressured to tighten its App Tracking Transparency rules after it was discovered that third parties were using workarounds to identify users who don't consent to being tracked. But there were no changes regarding looser "probabilistic" methods of user identification. (Photo by yalcin.sonat / Bigstockphoto)
