Facebook caught rigging facts about the dangers of Apple’s new privacy policy
In recent months, the relationship between Apple and Facebook has been heating up more and more with the introduction of the first new privacy rules in iOS 14.5 – users will be able to prevent third-party apps from tracking their actions. Facebook says the new rules will hit small businesses hard. The social network backs up its claims with numbers, but Harvard Business Review reporters found out that the company had rigged them to give meaning to its allegations.
Company representatives began to issue statements that Apple’s privacy policy would ruin Facebook’s advertising business. Since then, the social network has raised the bids, saying the move will have a huge negative impact on small businesses, especially app developers who rely on targeted Facebook ads. The social network has gone so far as to start paying to publish articles attacking Apple in print.
The reputable business publication Harvard Business Review sorted out the issue and stated that Facebook manipulated numbers in its claims, trying to mislead people. Facebook’s main claim is that small businesses will lose profits. The company says entrepreneurial earnings could drop an impressive 60 percent. However, the Harvard Business Review claims that this figure is based on two very different metrics, such as ad revenue and ad revenue. The publication claims that Facebook grossly overestimates the benefits of targeted advertising.
Facebook falsely claimed that 44 percent of small businesses increased their use of targeted advertising during the coronavirus pandemic, citing research from Deloitte. Harvard Business Review questioned this figure and decided to double-check the data. According to Deloitte, the industry that has increased the use of targeted advertising the most is the telecommunications business. However, the growth in the use of advertising in this area was only 34 percent. Professional services firms increased their use of targeted advertising by only 17 percent, so the average is very far from 44 percent. Thus, according to Harvard Business Review, Facebook selected only the data that best supported its version and then overestimated the figures by a third.
Other companies have reported a potential blow to the ad business following the introduction of Apple’s new privacy policy but have not made dubious claims. For example, Snap, the owner of Snapchat, does not claim that small businesses will suffer any losses but suggests that this could negatively affect the company’s ad revenue. However, the company’s CFO admits that the long-term impact of Apple’s new policies is difficult to predict and says he supports and respects the company’s concern for its customers’ privacy.
