Facebook Hit Hard By New Rules, Google Spared

Facebook’s owner is alleging Google, which also sells personalized ads on iPhones, has an unfair advantage under Apple’s new policies, reported Bloomberg.

Apps including Facebook have to ask users if they consent to being tracked, but Google’s search results and browser don’t — causing some advertisers’ budgets to shift to Google for more effective targeting.

Meta only started critiquing other tech giants by name in recent years. The social media behemoth, now facing antitrust scrutiny around the world, stands to benefit from framing itself as an underdog, threatened by larger forces.

Still, Meta told investors it expected to miss out on $10 billion in ad revenue in 2022 because of Apple’s changes, making it clear the company is more severely impacted than others. Facebook had relied on data from other apps and websites to make its ads effective. Without it, advertisers need to spend more money to achieve the same results.

Facebook ads are “still important, just costing a heck of a lot more,” said Doug Zarkin, chief marketing officer of Pearle Vision, which relies on Facebook and Instagram to drive people to its eye-care website and stores. He estimated that campaigns are 15% to 30% more expensive than last year.

Last year, Google said it wouldn’t prompt consumers about data collection because, after Apple’s change, it decided not to use any of the data on iPhones that would require permission.

According to Bloomberg, Google also doesn’t need the kind of data Facebook does from third parties in order to make its ads work. It runs its own mobile operating system, Android, and its own ad exchanges.

“Google just happens to be in the right place at the right time,” said Rick Watson, chief executive of RMW Consulting. “They were the biggest recipient of the ad dollars that were shifted because of effectiveness.”

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