Facebook says it underreported ad performance due to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency

Facebook told advertisers in a blog post Wednesday that it’s been underreporting ad performance on Apple iPhones, citing changes to the iOS operating system. Facebook guesses it’s underreporting web conversions on Apple’s iOS by some 15%.

Apple's new App Tracking Transparency feature across iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS requires apps to get users' permission before tracking their data across apps or websites owned by other companies. — Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature across iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS requires apps to get users’ permission before tracking their data across apps or websites owned by other companies.

Starting with Apple’s iOS 14.5 update, user consent for ad tracking will be managed through the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) system.

App developers are now be required to use the App Tracking Transparency framework if their app collects data about users and shares it with third parties for purposes of tracking across apps and websites. ATT will not allow cross-website and cross-app tracking app tracking unless the user actively opts in.

Lauren Feiner for CNBC:

“We believe that real world conversions, like sales and app installs, are higher than what is being reported for many advertisers,” Graham Mudd, vice president of product marketing at Facebook, wrote in a blog post.

Facebook shares fell about 4% on Monday.

Facebook CFO David Wehner warned of the potential effect of the iOS changes on the company’s July earnings call, saying he expected to see a greater impact from the changes in the third quarter. Apple’s update made it so that iPhone and iPad users would have to choose to opt in to being tracked when first launching an app. Specialized tracking helps Facebook and other apps deliver more personalized ads to users.

MacDailyNews Take: Gee, that’s too bad. 😂

All of these “social media” platforms – Twitter, Parler, Facebook – are cancers on society. They are clearly eating society from the inside out. There’s something unsavory within human nature that “digital distance” amplifies to the point of disgust.

If you quit these cancers you will quickly realize what they are and what they do. You will be happier and healthier to have excised them from your life.

We haven’t had personal Twitter or Facebook accounts for many years now. And very happily so. — MacDailyNews, January 9, 2021

Apple’s App Tracking Transparency explained: