Social-media company plans to show users a screen describing how it uses their data to personalize ads
Facebook Inc. FB 1.42% plans to roll out an in-app prompt aimed at educating users about the handling of their data as it battles Apple Inc. AAPL 1.65% over the iPhone maker’s new privacy changes that would require users’ consent to track their behavior and make targeted ads more difficult.
The social-media company will show users a screen that includes information about its personalized advertisements. The screen will ask users for permission to use data collected from third-party websites and apps while also describing how certain data is being used, for example, to personalize their experience. The screen will be paired with an Apple prompt related to its new privacy policy, which is expected to be released in the next several months. Facebook plans to test the screen with some users beginning Monday before officially launching it when Apple’s new privacy tool rolls out.
“People deserve the additional context, and Apple has said that providing education is allowed,” Facebook said Monday. The company said agreeing to the prompt wouldn’t result in its collecting new types of data, and users who decline it would still see advertisements, albeit less relevant. Apple’s prompt will ultimately be the decisive tool over how user behavior is tracked across apps.
Facebook and Apple have been battling for months on several fronts and have become more personal in their criticism lately.
Under Apple’s new privacy changes, which will be released in a new software update, many apps will begin asking users whether or not they want their behavior on the web to be tracked for the purposes of personalized ads. Facebook, which relies on such tracking to power its advertisement business, has said the new rules will hurt small businesses. The update has been controversial among the broader advertisement industry, although Apple has said the changes wouldn’t prohibit tracking but would require app makers to obtain users’ permission to do so.
While talking remotely to the Consumer Privacy and Data Protection Conference last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook…
