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Meta Sued Over Tracking iPhone Users Despite Apple's Privacy Features
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One side benefit of this lawsuit, regardless of outcome, is a lot more light will be publicly shed on fb's actual data collecting practices. FB says they aren't doing anything illegal or unethical, but now more information will be available to the court of public opinion. Even if fb prevails in this case, if it convinces more people to leave the platform it will be a win for society, imo, lol.
This is only sort-of true. It's a bit like saying "no one is forced to use the Internet." Because in this day there are whole swathes of life that require use of certain platforms if you want to operate in society. While probably not true of instagram, loads of businesses use WhatsApp and Facebook to interact with customers, so if you want to do business with them you probably do need to use FB. And then there's the massive network effect that obliges a large number of people to use Facebook to interact with various communities.
Great, for reasons unknown even to myself, my brain started involuntarily humming this horrible song whilst reading your post.
That's the claim . . . though the ability to keystroke log doesn't mean they are in fact doing it. Meta's interest here is much more in tracking your interactions with the website to sell the data than to hack into your accounts by nabbing your login.
Zuckerbot completely ruined social media, forever. It should just… go away. These practices are sickening.
So Apple's ATT policy is merely a suggestion rather than a hard rule. They assume developers will work on the honor system.
Most do.
217th Rule of Acquisition: You can't free a fish from water. Leopard doesn't change it's spots. Facebook gonna be Facebook.
Apple's ATT policy is a paper tiger. It good for propaganda and marketing, but unless it can actually stop tracking, it'll be the TSA of software.
I suspect the Facebook TOS allow them to do this and the user has agreed to them by using the service.
1. This is happening in a webview wherein apple has more difficulty auditing what is going on.
2. You’d be surprised how a lot of JavaScript works on the internet. Facebook presumably is enumerating dom elements on websites and reporting back. Stuff like “key logging” looks like document.onkeypress, and they’ve probably passed it to some catchall to grab everything. But other websites use similar functions
3. The point however is Facebook is coercing users to remain in the in app browser wherein they’ve inserted their scripts that monitor all DOM and input entries. They argue it’s for better user experience, but they lose control and visibility when the user hops into actual safari
2. You’d be surprised how a lot of JavaScript works on the internet. Facebook presumably is enumerating dom elements on websites and reporting back. Stuff like “key logging” looks like document.onkeypress, and they’ve probably passed it to some catchall to grab everything. But other websites use similar functions
3. The point however is Facebook is coercing users to remain in the in app browser wherein they’ve inserted their scripts that monitor all DOM and input entries. They argue it’s for better user experience, but they lose control and visibility when the user hops into actual safari
I'm trying to understand....
Can Facebook condition the use of the app on users allowing it to track? Or do Apple's rules forbid Facebook from *forcing* users to accept tracking as a condition for using the app?
I am aware of at least one other app on the App Store where users *must agree* to be tracked (including access to text messages!) as a condition of using the app. Can Facebook not use the same stipulation? Or would that be breaking Apple's rules?
Classic! And we all know how long the Rules of Acquisition: Revised for the modern (Human) lasted. In short, back to business of whoring information as per usual.
Who would have thought that a company started by a guy as a way to track his ex-girlfriends is tracking us too? This guy...that's who!
Meta reminds me of Putin, you can't believe anything they say, it's about time the law came down on them and made an example!
Meta is facing a new proposed class action lawsuit that accuses it of tracking and collecting the personal data of iPhone users, despite features and policies made by Apple which are meant to stop that same type of tracking.
In August, it was revealed that with the Facebook and Instagram apps, Meta can track all of a user's key taps, keyboard inputs, and more, when using the in-app browser. When a user clicks on a link on Instagram, for example, Meta can monitor their interactions, text selections, and even text input, such as passwords and private credit card details within that website.
This practice of tracking users is a direct violation of Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy, which requires apps to ask for user consent before tracking them across apps and websites owned by other companies.
Filed on Wednesday in San Francisco federal court, a new lawsuit accuses Meta of this violation, as reported by Bloomberg Law. The proposed class action lawsuit accuses Meta of violating Apple's ATT framework and state and federal laws by collecting user data without user consent within its Facebook and Instagram apps.
In most apps on the iPhone, developers use Apple's Safari to open links within their apps. Meta, however, has developed a custom-made in-app browser based on Apple's WebKit framework for Instagram and Facebook. Meta's browser allows it to inject a tracking JavaScript code named "Meta Pixel" into all links and websites shown.
The lawsuit accuses Meta of using the in-app browser on Facebook and Instagram as a way to circumvent rules enforced by Apple to prevent unwanted tracking of users. "This allows Meta to intercept, monitor, and record its users' interactions and communications with third parties, providing data to Meta that it aggregates, analyzes, and uses to boost its advertising revenue," the lawsuit says, according to Bloomberg Law.
Since its introduction in June 2021, Meta has been a vocal opposer of Apple's ATT policy, claiming it would hurt small businesses that rely on personalized ads.
Meta claimed in a full-page newspaper ad that Apple was hurting the ability of small businesses to grow, since if users opt-out of tracking, they're less likely to see ads personalized and recommended for them. Apple's ATT framework has had an impact on Meta's business as it's expected to lose $10 billion in revenue this year alone.
Update: A Meta spokesperson has provided MacRumors with the following statement:
Article Link: Meta Sued Over Tracking iPhone Users Despite Apple's Privacy Features
I did that a year ago, haven't missed it one bit and I sleep much better at night 😊
Meta (although to a large extend it's a PR stunt) is the company, FB, Insta & WhatsApp are the platforms now, not companies as such
Except Apple have done nothing to compromise our privacy. (clearly you're just a troll) not an Apple user
Most likely. But even so, with Apple's very outspoken position on privacy you'd think they would have something to say about this.
Never ceases to amaze, how upset some people get and yet still remain on Meta platforms 🤣 I left a year ago, missed the habit for the first month, haven't missed it one day since
I get that. What I don't get is how an unrelated third party can sue Meta for breaching Apple's T&Cs. That's surely an issue between Apple and Meta?