Hacker News Reader

Comment by gyc | Hacker News Reader

Wonder if an ulterior motive is to hit back at Apple fo Apple increasingly limiting the ability of Facebook and other ad companies to track iOS users.

View on HN

I'd rephrase it slightly – it's a battle for who owns the concept of "identity", and Apple is about to destroy the Facebook Connect button on mobile (which is where most consumers are trending too).

I fight that thing, tooth and nail

> Apple is about to destroy the Facebook Connect button on mobile

Can you elaborate on what or how Apple is doing this? First time I'm hearing about this.

Maybe they are referring to the ‘Sign with Apple’ mandatory feature.

"Apps that use a third-party or social login service (such as Facebook Login, Google Sign-In, Sign in with Twitter, Sign In with LinkedIn, Login with Amazon, or WeChat Login) to set up or authenticate the user’s primary account with the app must also offer Sign in with Apple as an equivalent option."

I don't think it is retributive. It could merely be that Facebook didn't think the risk was worth it while they were still easily monetizing Apple device users. Now that the main source of revenue is diminishing, Facebook has less to lose.

I thought the same thing. The new OS betas for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS all have very strong non-tracking functionality.

This should hit Facebook's, Google's, and more companies' bottom lines.

I don't think it will. The only way advertisers stop spending on Facebook or Google is if something bigger and better comes along that'll provide a better return. Unfortunately only another platform will stop the money flowing in to this advertising duopoly. The only thing I think it might do is change the distribution of ad dollars between FB and Google.

Facebook thinks it will, and issued a warning about their future revenue as a result.

But even if Apple were forced to allow alternative app stores and payment methods, the methods it uses to prevent tracking are built into the OS. So wouldn't they continue to work?

Facebook just had to warn that their future earnings would be impacted by iOS, so they definitely has motive.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com