Data privacy: Why Meta, Google may have a tough time toeing Apple’s line

Dubai: Are you a web surfer and frequent social media user who has no issues with passing on your precious consumer data? Or, are you the sort who will not let any tech giant – and marketing company - use that info to get to know your preferences better?

More UAE users – and those elsewhere - are starting to think about ring-fencing their data, dismissing outright the cookie usage requests that pop up each time you get into a new site. If so, they will play their part in empowering Apple in their ongoing privacy battle with Meta (formerly Facebook) in how user data must be shared.

“Apple has often been described as a pro-consumer privacy company,” said Alex Malouf, Board Member at the advertising and marketing industry grouping PRCA MENA. “With Android, the operating system is from Google, which in itself is the world's largest advertising platform.

“You can be certain that there are Android users who are also concerned about privacy and do not want to be targeted by ads - just like those who own an Apple iPhone. Overall, the online ad industry does have to address the issue of transparency with consumers.”

Meta last week got a taste of how consumer sentiments are changing, and that of advertisers along with them. The stock had the biggest single-day meltdown - at $250 billion - in history as investors got spooked about drop in Facebook user numbers. Meta said that Apple’s stricter privacy policy had also played its part.

No easy switch for tech giants

That should not necessarily mean changes these tech giants will be completely reworking their own data use policy. “We are seeing this issue play out again in Europe, with reports that Meta may pull out from Europe if it can no longer exchange data from European users with the US,” said Malouf. “What can companies whose entire business model is designed around targeting billions of online users with advertising do?”

Sure, Meta/Facebook has tightened up their data policies. The laissez-faire policy of passing on user data to all available bidders is no longer indulged in. Yet, do consumers have full power over their data protection?

“A survey by Ding GPI shows 45 per cent of users in the UAE and 37 per cent in Saudi Arabia are concerned about data collection,” said Amit Raj at Binary, a digital media firm. “Meta/Facebook has always been fighting battles well in the past, and, despite everything, they had advertisers' confidence.

“Now, at one end, Tiktok has been attracting young adults away from FB, and on the other, Apple's ATT data protection policy limits advertisers from targeting based on audience interest or ID. This two-way throttle on FB has it falling on stock exchanges and among advertisers.”

UAE adds muscle to data protection

In December, the UAE embedded more rights to its ‘Personal Data Protection Law’, which among other things, sets:

Incidentally, this is the first federal law to be drafted in partnership with major technology companies in the private sector. It came into force on January 2.

Use all means available

Tomasz Wisniewski, Director of Research and Education at Axiory Intelligence, is insistent that while laws do their part, consumers must do a lot more at their end. “’When an online service is free, you’re not the customer - You’re the product’,” he said. “Almost every single company that would like to sell us something would like to know more about us first.

“There is only a handful of companies or institutions, which actually value our privacy and are opposing the whole data harvesting process. Apple raising the bar in this matter is definitely a step forward, but can it be copied by other vendors? I don’t think so.

“There is a conflict of interest there, although Google was following the Apple movement with increasing the data privacy on Android. Google, like Facebook, would also like to know as much about you as possible. What you watch on YouTube or what are you looking for on Chrome browser, that information is priceless and I don’t think it’ll be easy to say goodbye to it that easily.

“I don’t think that any major peer will go beyond what Apple did. The Blackberry days are way over.”

Will advertisers force the privacy?

In the past, for various reasons, advertisers and brands have decided they are quitting social media, but they are very much the minority.

Satish Mayya of BPG Group has his doubts whether advertiser pressure can work. “There is no doubt that Meta - Facebook and Instagram combined - is one important part of any client’s media mix today,” he said. “A brand cannot afford to miss out on where users are. However, what makes a campaign successful is communication. Since the space is so cluttered, a brand needs to stand out to grab user attention.

“Users have more power over data sharing options. Look at it another way, Facebook will have a little less control on what they used to get from each user. However this shift in data privacy is not yet made aware to the wider public.

“For instance, the way India – the second largest country in internet users - regulate user privacy differently than the US. So, this is an evolving event.

“I am hopeful that with the rise of Web 3.0, users will have more control and it will be a much user-oriented environment.”

That and a few prods like the Meta stock meltdown of last week should convince more tech companies to change, faster.