A new report has emerged claiming that just 4% of Facebook users have enabled the data tracking settling that was recently introduced by iPhone producer, Apple.
We reported last week that Facebook and Apple were feuding after Apple gave its users the ability to opt-out of apps that were tracking their activity and using the data for targeted advertising purposes.
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It’s called the App Tracking Transparency feature, which allowed iPhone users to choose which applications were allowed to track this usage and use for their targeted advertising campaigns.
The most recent report is significant because it shows that the vast majority of Facebook users with an iPhone had chosen to opt-out of the targeted advertising feature, with just 4% of Facebook users having enabled the data tracking setting.
The report comes from Flurry Analytics, who analysed data from more than 5.3 million daily Facebook users around the globe. Flurry says that in the first 12-days of the App Transparency Feature being rolled out, a mere 4% enabled data tracking on behalf of Facebook while using the application.
Their research shows that while the global opt-in rate of app-tracking software is higher than expected, hovering around the 13% mark at the end of the second week, U.S. citizens have shouted a resounding ‘no’ in terms of their data being collected.
On average, the number of Americans opting out of app tracking has moved from a low of 2% to a high of 5% overall.
Just 4% of Facebook Users Have Enabled Data Tracking Setting
Flurry writes that “with opt-in rates expected to be low, this change is expected to create challenges for personalized advertising and attribution impacting the $189 billion mobile advertising industry worldwide.”
Apple has released a statement regarding its App Transparency Tracker feature stating that “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.”
“App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 does not require Facebook to change its approach to tracking users and creating targeted advertising, it simply requires they give users a choice,” Apple said.
Facebook, on the other hand, has taken out full-page advertisements in a number of high profile publications saying that the company was committed to “standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere.”
Facebook, alongside the likes of Snapchat, Google and Twitter have each said that Apple’s move to enable user opt-out of targeted advertising will ultimately impact their bottom line, as the mobile ad space appears to become less lucrative.
A report from Gizmodo states that “iOS 14.5 has only been out for a little less than two weeks, and, given more time, we’ll likely gain a better understand of the average number of users opting-in or opting-out of app tracking.”
“But one thing’s crystal clear: people value their privacy,” the report states, “and if that means missing out on a few personalized ads, well, plenty of folks seem happy to make that sacrifice.”
