Apple iOS 11 Anti-Tracking Feature: Advertising Industry Says It Will Kill Internet!

14% of all Internet users access web using Safari browser from Apple.

Almost 50% of all phones in USA and around 30% in Europe are iPhones, and starting today, a major change in the Internet advertisement industry will be witnessed, because of Apple.

iOS 11, the latest version of iPhone’s OS will stop those codes, cookies and protocols which follow their users, and this has the power to change the business model of Internet advertisements for ever.

This means that advertisers would be no longer able to track and identify iPhone users, and this means that the era of remarketing will dynamically change, for ever.

Advertising industry has expressed their strong displeasure over this action by Apple, and have said that this can ‘sabotage’ the economic model of Internet advertisement.

Experts are claiming that after the introduction of Ad blockers, this move by Apple to include anti-tracking feature by default in iOS and macOS High Sierra , is the biggest negative update to have hit the digital advertisement industry, ever.

Apple iOS 11 Will Stop Following Users

On June 5th, Apple announced the introduction of ‘Intelligent Tracking Prevention’ feature in iOS 11, which has been released for all iPhone users today, and macOS High Sierra, which will be released in September 25th.

As per the blog by Apple, this will reduce cross-site tracking, and prevent advertisers from following the users as they visit various sites.

In short, this will limit the remarketing technique, which is quite popular with digital marketers.

Apple had said in June “The success of the web as a platform relies on user trust. Many users feel that trust is broken when they are being tracked and privacy-sensitive data about their web activity is acquired for purposes that they never agreed to.”

For instance, in iOS 11, the use of cookies for remarketing would be reduced to 24 hours, as against 30 days which is the norm now.

As per Apple, they will implement ‘machine learning’ to stop cookies and tracking software from following the users. They said: “A machine learning model is used to classify which top privately-controlled domains have the ability to track the user cross-site, based on the collected statistics.”

But not much details have been shared regarding the working of this machine learning.

Advertisement Industry: Apple Is Killing Internet

6 major advertisement agencies have come together, and written an open letter to Apple, condemning their action of blocking anti-tracking software in iOS and macOS.

As per these agencies, Apple’s action will hurt consumers, content creators and the industry overall.

They expressed their ‘deep concern’, and have requested Apple to “to rethink its plan to … risk disrupting the valuable digital advertising ecosystem that funds much of today’s digital content and services”.

Claiming that Apple’s move will sabotage the economic model of Internet, the open letter said: “The infrastructure of the modern internet depends on consistent and generally applicable standards for cookies, so digital companies can innovate to build content, services and advertising that are personalised for users and remember their visits.”, adding, “Apple’s Safari move breaks those standards and replaces them with an amorphous set of shifting rules that will hurt the user experience and sabotage the economic model for the internet.”

As per the advertisers who wrote the letter, Apple blocking such tracking software will “drive a wedge between brands and their customers, and it will make advertising more generic and less timely and useful.”

We will keep you updated as we receive more reactions to this move by Apple.

Do let us know your reaction, by commenting right here!