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> Oh they could, I mean Apple could just keep killing their accounts they create but is FB ballsy enough to keep opening them?

Enterprise developer accounts (the ones that can issue apps signed such that they can be sideloaded on any device) aren't something just anyone can go online and sign up for-- they require manual approval with proof of a business's identity before they're created.

So, unless Facebook starts opening well-disguised shell companies or something along those lines to circumvent any restrictions Apple might put on them, this will be over as soon as Apple revokes Facebook's enterprise distribution account. (Or, more likely, threatens Facebook into dropping the VPN app, because FB probably doesn't want to lose the ability to distribute legitimate internal-use apps to their employees.)

> Enterprise developer accounts (the ones that can issue apps signed such that they can be sideloaded on any device) aren't something just anyone can go online and sign up for-- they require manual approval with proof of a business's identity before they're created.

It's my understanding that faking these business identities is the entire business model of iOS sideloaded services (see the subreddit for examples [0]) so I don't think it's that difficult to do. That said, I'd be shocked if Apple let them go that far as to keep spinning out fake businesses but then again if FB thinks it can get away with it what's stopping them?

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/sideloaded/

That would be getting into serious fraud, arguably criminal under CFAA. Normally Apple isn't interested in prosecuting these people as its just sideloading, which is some minor copyright violations and a security risk in their view, but if Facebook did it after having been banned themselves, having a written statement from Apple that these apps were violating, and then they go and pay a third party or deliberately make a shell company to defraud Apple? That could provoke a total business embargo between the companies which would suffocate FB.

> as soon as Apple revokes Facebook's enterprise distribution account

Good call.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3427520-apple-banning-facebook...

> Apple says. "Any developer using their enterprise certificates to distribute apps to consumers will have their certificates revoked, which is what we did in this case to protect our users and their data.”

> Oh they could, I mean Apple could just keep killing their accounts they create but is FB ballsy enough to keep opening them? It would be FB calling Apple's bluff. Users would riot though. Apple has to decide between supporting privacy or supporting their users' choice. Apple has made the decision to take away users' choice in the past in the name of safety/protection, I could see them doing it again.

Apple could block all updates to Facebook's apps until Facebook complies with their policies. That would get Facebook's attention in a way that wouldn't alienate Apple's users.

Facebook needs mobile, which means they need Apple more than Apple needs them.

Now that's a really good point also I know Apple has straight up pulled apps (Tumblr) in the past. The don't uninstall them from the user's devices (though they could) but Apple does have a number of tools in it's toolbox.

1. Ban all accounts that were publishing this "VPN" (I assume FB didn't use it's main account for any of this, if they did leave that account alone and ban the others)

2. Block updates to FB for some period of time if they try to open new accounts and get caught

3. Delete FB Apps from App Store

4. Delete FB Apps from iOS devices

> Facebook needs mobile, which means they need Apple more than Apple needs them.

Is that actually true? Last time I checked iPhone only had a 20% market share. People buy phones, including iPhones, to do stuff with them. What Facebook provides is the stuff a huge part of the users want to do with their phone.

Imagine iPhone users can no longer WhatsApp/FB-messanger with their Android using friends. How many people will think twice before buying an iPhone again? Facebook screws with privacy the users don't care about (yes, the average user doesn't give a shit, especially if he gets paid), while Apple would screw with the users apps, which they care about a lot! Apple is in the disadvantage here. Especially since their whole business model is a better user experience for overpriced hardware.

>> Facebook needs mobile, which means they need Apple more than Apple needs them.

> Is that actually true? Last time I checked iPhone only had a 20% market share.

But it's a relatively premium market segment that Facebook can't afford to lose. If they cede it, they're taking a serious risk that a serious competitor could emerge on the platform that turns them into the next MySpace. That 20% could pull the rest of the market its way, since whatever they migrate to would likely be available on all platforms.

This isn't a far-fetched idea. It's basically what Facebook did with it's initial rollout exclusively to the Ivy League schools.

> Imagine iPhone users can no longer WhatsApp/FB-messanger with their Android using friends. How many people will think twice before buying an iPhone again?

That might have been true five years ago, but Facebook's products are much less compelling now, for a whole host of reasons. Cross-platform replacements would quickly emerge to fill the niches Facebook was driven out of. Many people would get mad about not having Facebook on their phone, but most of them would get over it. But others are already primed to abandon Facebook, they're just waiting for a push.

> Apple is in the disadvantage here.

No, Facebook is, since their dominance of social netoworking is so tenuous that they need to convince people to use spy-VPNs to stay on top of emerging competitors.

> Cross-platform replacements would quickly emerge

For messaging, one could argue that it already exists: Signal (which has already benefited from FB’s announcement that they collect WhatsApp)

To the average user, this would look Apple was exerting control over devices that are rightfully owned by the user, in the same way it looked to people in the free software community during the advent of the app store and the locked down iPhone that needs to be jailbroken in order to do what you want with it. They would still want facebook, an app they'd been using for lots of minutes a day, and they'd be denied it.

It might actually get ordinary users interested in making it so Apple doesn't have total control of what can be installed on the phones they purchased. They won't see all the philosophy behind it that people in the free software community do, but it would point them in the right direction.

Or I guess Apple can send them a cease and desist letter, since they are obviously violating the enterprise account license agreements.

I mean it depends on what you mean by "possible". I'm pretty sure Apple has the technical capability to delete apps over the air. The more interesting question is what they're willing to do: are they willing to pull FB from every iPhone? I don't think so.

Apple can remove the app from the App Store but I'm pretty sure they can't delete apps over the air from a given phone.

If they can OTA update the OS they can delete whatever they want, all they need to do is call the internal API that deletes apps.

If nothing else they could issue an iOS update that permanently bans the trusted root certificate, erases all apps, and directly blacklists the Facebook certs. Heck, they could even block connections to facebook servers at the MAC layer if they wanted to. And they could require users to install it to get future updates. Of course, that would never happen.

Could Apple, in a software update, put Facebooks apps in a sandbox, or wrapper, or VM type thing? Not sure of the technical term, whereby the device would only return encrypted or dummy device data? So that regardless of what permissions FB app has been given, each time it goes to get that data the VM interrupts and asks the user.

Say, FB wants to get your location, even though FB has location permissions a pop up says "Facebook is attempting to find your location. Do you consent to sending your location to Facbook?" "Facebook is attempting to read the Names, Telephone Numbers and Addresses of everybody in your contact list. Do you consent to this?" every time facebook app makes the request?

I'd be a bad user experience, but Apple could say it cares about privacy and blame facebook.