During its recent earnings call, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that Apple’s privacy rules are “negatively affecting” the social media giant’s sales growth. Zuckerberg continued Facebook’s line of attack on Apple, reiterating his claim that consumer-friendly privacy policies don’t only impact the Masters of the Universe, but also small businesses.
The Wall Street Journal reports that social media giant Facebook recently reported lower than expected growth in the third quarter of 2021. Facebook’s third-quarter revenue reached $29.01 billion, an increase of 35 percent from the year previously but below the expected $29.56 billion that analysts were expecting. The increase was the smallest since last year’s fourth quarter and below the 52 percent rate over the first half of this year.
During the call, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg blamed Apple for the company’s slow growth, saying that Apple is “negatively affecting” Facebook but he believes that the social media giant will be able to “navigate” the challenges that Apple is presenting with its new App Tracking Transparency features that have made it harder for Facebook to target ads towards users.
Apple CEO Tim Cook (Noah Berger/AFP)
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 10: Facebook co-founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a combined Senate Judiciary and Commerce committee hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill April 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. Zuckerberg, 33, was called to testify after it was reported that 87 million Facebook users had their personal information harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm linked to the Trump campaign. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Zuckerberg stated:
As expected, we did experience revenue headwinds this quarter, including from Apple’s changes that are not only negatively affecting our business, but millions of small businesses in what is already a difficult time for them in the economy. Sheryl and Dave will talk about this more later, but the bottom line is we expect we’ll be able to navigate these headwinds over time with investments that we’re already making today.
Zuckerberg claims that Apple’s new privacy rules are making “e-commerce and customer acquisition less effective on the web,” but he believes that Facebook could still benefit from the situation as “solutions that allow businesses to set up shop right inside our apps will become increasingly attractive.” His criticisms are a continuation of Facebook’s PR war against again.
Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandburg, further criticized Apple and its new privacy rules, stating:
We’ve been open about the fact that there were headwinds coming – and we’ve experienced that in Q3. The biggest is the impact of Apple’s iOS14 changes, which have created headwinds for others in the industry as well, major challenges for small businesses, and advantaged Apple’s own advertising business.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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