CFO says Apple bears some blame for problems at Meta

You may recall that when Apple announced its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature, which allows iPhone users to opt out of being tracked by third parties who want to send them personalized ads, Meta co-founder and chairman Mark Zuckerberg wasn’t thrilled. was with Apple. He paid for full-page advertisements printed in newspapers such as: The New York Times† The Wall Street Journaland The Washington Post†

Meta Blames Apple’s App Tracking Transparency Feature For Hiring Freeze And Share Price Drop

The ads complained that Apple harmed small businesses by limiting their ability to send customers personalized ads so they could educate their customers. The ads also pointed out that “10 million companies use our advertising tools every month to find new customers, hire employees and connect with their communities.” And there you have it. Facebook was concerned about Apple’s app tracking transparency as it could impact Facebook’s own revenue (more on this below).

Facebook (now Meta) paid for open ads in major newspapers seeking to criticize Apple for its app-tracking transparency feature

Last year, Meta said ATT could result in a $10 billion loss in revenue for the company, while data management company Lotame made an even higher estimate that forecast a $12.8 billion drop in revenue for Meta thanks to Apple and its ATT.

Meta has now announced a major personnel freeze that will affect all units of the company. The social media company, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger, blames four different factors with Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature at the top of that list. Business Insider could receive a memo written by Meta Chief Financial Officer David Wehner sent to all employees.

In that memo, Wehner says the four factors dampening Meta’s revenue are:

Loss of signal due to iOS changes (ATT).
The war in Ukraine.
The “general macroeconomic environment.”
Easing the lockdowns so that people spend less time online.

Wehner’s memo makes it clear that Meta’s problem with Apple’s App Tracking Transparency has less to do with hurting small businesses than hurting Meta. In the memo, the CFO wrote: “We are experiencing headwinds, including slower sales growth than expected at the start of the year.”

Global recruiting head Miranda Kalinowski sent her own memo stating that Meta will stop hiring engineers immediately. She wrote: “We are still figuring out what this means for each organization, but it will impact hiring goals for nearly every team across the company. Based on this refreshed guidance, we know we can achieve our hiring goals across the board. need to adjust line with Eng[ineering]†

Her memo would indicate that vacancies in technology in the field of Machine Learning will still be filled. Going back to CFO Wehner’s memo, the director mentions Meta’s plan to replace the data lost from Apple’s ATT using AI. In addition, the memo tries to give a happy face to Meta’s business prospects at the moment.

Apple says transparency on app tracking won’t force Meta to make changes to its businesses

“We are in a strong position with a healthy business and we are optimistic about the opportunities to accelerate growth again, in particular by unlocking new revenue streams through monetization of roles, incorporating AI into our advertising system to reduce signal loss by accommodating iOS changes, growing business messages, and bringing the metaverse to life,” the CFO wrote.

He adds: “But we also need to take our responsibility by responding to the unpredictable market forces that have put pressure on our business in recent months. In practice, this is a valuable forcing function to ensure that we prioritize more effectively and all work on the most important things.”

Apple points out, as always when the topic is pressed, that app tracking transparency doesn’t require Facebook to make changes to its businesses. “We believe this is a matter of standing up for our users. Users need to know when their data is being collected and shared with other apps and websites – and they should have the choice to allow it or not.”

The Cupertino-based tech giant’s response says that “App tracking transparency in iOS 14 doesn’t require Facebook to change its approach to tracking users and creating targeted ads, it simply requires them to give users a choice.”