🔒 “Transparency is The Best Policy,” Apple

“Bleeding,” says ByteDance

Indian Authorities have ‘freezed’ the 2 bank accounts (CitiBank & HSBC) of ByteDance (parent company of TikTok). Why? For  alleged evasion of certain taxes in online advertising dealings between the ByteDance unit in India and its parent entity in Singapore, TikTok Pte Ltd. The India courts have not provided any relief.

It’s a relief that Suez canal is now unblocked. The World may start trading again. But this could result in Egypt demanding close to $1 Billion for loses.

“Transparency is The Best Policy,” Apple

What a blow! Apple is updating its iOS and the new update will soon require consumers to opt-in if they want to allow businesses to track their data and use it for personalized advertising. What’s more disrupting? There are 1B iPhone users in this whole world and this will shake the $400 Billion digital advertising industry…one that depends heavily on data tracking.

Knock! Knock! Google? Facebook? Don’t you guys earn Billions from ad revenue? Google earned $169 Billion and Facebook earned $80 Billion in ad revenue over the last year. This policy might cost them close to $25 Billion in ad revenue. But, on-platform ads (Facebook-delivered ads in the Facebook app; Google ads on the Google website) can still use all the data Facebook or Google have, respectively.

Facebook also released an ad. The ad focuses closely on the emotional aspect of users. It focused on how most of our Favourite TV Shows or Blogs are free because they earn from the ads; and how Apple might change the internet as we know it!

Well, it is a $2 Trillion mammoth! Clearly, Zuckerberg isn’t happy with this. But, Google, for some reason has remained awfully silent about it.

But it is NOT sitting out there doing anything. Google plans to stop selling ads based on individuals’ browsing across multiple websites. This will help push the industry away from the use of such individualized tracking. 

Third-party apps & websites are impacted the most. Apple’s tracking changes also affect how much data from those third-party properties makes it back to the ad networks. Smartypants tech firms like Tencent and ByteDance also tested a workaround tracking method. And Apple was brisk to shoot it down.

Food for Thought: Are our phones becoming battlegrounds for the Tech Giants?

Do Ads Need Data? Quoting Tim Cook – “Technology does not need vast troves of personal data, stitched together across dozens of websites and apps, in order to succeed. Advertising existed and thrived for decades without it.” Couldn’t agree more.

Digital ads become more relevant because they track the consumers based on what they like and other sites they visit.

 “Personalized ads are an important way people discover small businesses on Facebook and Instagram, and how these ads help small businesses grow from an idea into a livelihood.”

Apple’s Monopoly – Own it All. Epic Games’ Fortnite was kicked out of the App Store for going against Apple’s ‘30% tax on in-app purchase.’ It then dragged Apple to the court, throwing light on how Apple exploited its Monopoly to become more profitable. Soon, Epic Games joined hands with Facebook. And now comes the new Privacy Policy! Businesses earning from ads will be forced to use ‘subscription models’ or other ‘in-app purchases.’

And Apple WILL EARN FROM IT?

🏖️Tourists, Trees & Taxes

In 2016, Balearic authorities introduced an eco-tax on tourists to help preserve the island’s natural beauty. The tax faced criticism from many places but the government described it as ‘absolutely necessary to conserve the environment.

💭 Byte of The Day