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Apple says it will roll out a new privacy control in the spring to prevent iPhone apps from secretly shadowing people.
The delay in its anticipated rollout aims to placate Facebook and other digital services that depend on such data surveillance to help sell ads.
Although Apple did not provide a specific date, the general timetable disclosed on Thursday means a long-awaited feature known as App Tracking Transparency will be part of an iPhone software update likely to arrive in late March or some point in April.
After delaying the planned September introduction of the safeguard amid a Facebook-led outcry, Apple had previously said it would come out early this year.
Apple privacy feature to make it harder to track iPhone users
January 28, 2021 / 12:08 PM / AP Apple reveals newest iPhone
Apple says it will roll out a new privacy control in the spring to prevent iPhone apps from secretly shadowing people. The delay in its anticipated rollout aims to placate Facebook and other digital services that depend on such data surveillance to help sell ads.
Although Apple didn t provide a specific date, the general timetable disclosed Thursday means a long-awaited feature known as App Tracking Transparency will be part of an iPhone software update likely to arrive in late March or some point in April.
Cook never specifically named Facebook or any other company. But his remarks left little doubt that his missives were aimed at the social media sites that have been criticized for enabling conspiracy theories, hate speech and political misinformation that culminated in the Jan. 6 insurrection that overtook the U.S. Capitol while Congress met to confirm the election of President Joe Biden.
“A social dilemma cannot be allowed to become a social catastrophe, Cook added, referring to a Netflix documentary about technology s and especially social media s corrosive effects on society. That film took square aim at Facebook and how its algorithms manipulate its nearly 3 billion users to get them to look at the ads that generate most of its revenue.
Michael Liedtke
FILE - In this Jan. 3, 2019, file photo, a man leaves an Apple store in Beijing. Apple says it will roll out a new privacy control in spring 2021 to prevent iPhone apps from secretly shadowing people. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File) January 28, 2021 - 1:13 PM
SAN RAMON, Calif. - Apple CEO Tim Cook fired off a series of thinly veiled shots at Facebook and other social media companies Thursday, escalating an online privacy battle pitting the iPhone maker against digital services that depend on tracking people to help sell ads.
âToo many are still asking the question âhow much can we get away with? when we should be asking âwhat are the consequences? Cook said. âWhat are the consequences of not just tolerating but rewarding content that undermines public trust in life-saving vaccinations? What are the consequences of seeing thousands of users join extremist groups and then perpetuating an algorithm that recommends more?