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Leaked Facebook memo reveals how advertisers will be impacted following iOS 14.5 release

Apple finally introduced iOS 14.5 this week, which comes with the long-awaited App Tracking Transparency feature to prevent third-party apps from tracking users across the web. Since the announcement of this feature, Facebook has been complaining about the impact this option will have on its business model, and now a leaked company memo reveals how advertisers will be affected.

As revealed by Insider, the memo was sent to some advertisers on Wednesday explaining how App Tracking Transparency will affect advertisements on Facebook and Instagram. The company says it expects ad campaign results “will fluctuate” gradually as users update their devices to iOS 14.5 in the coming weeks

Advertisers will lose the ability to target an advertisement with an estimated time frame to result in a conversion when it comes to iOS users. The memo says:

1-day click-through opt-out data will be modeled for advertisers.

7-day click-through and 1-day view-through attribution settings will no longer include iOS 14.5 opted-out events.

28-day click-through, 7-day view-through, 28-day view-through attribution tools will no longer be available to advertisers.

For users running iOS 14.5, both the Facebook and Instagram apps will automatically opt out of tracking settings. The company also clarifies that it will not be possible to create things like Mobile App Install campaigns with iOS 14.5 users as the target audience. Those campaigns currently active with iOS users as the target audience will no longer be displayed for those running iOS 14.5.

For the coming weeks, advertisers should expect a decrease in the audience for their ads, with more users opting out of being tracked. This, of course, should also impact Facebook’s revenue, which is primarily based on ads.

Earlier this week, a report detailed how Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg have been disagreeing over how apps should handle privacy. Facebook’s CEO has heavily criticized Apple due to changes in the iOS privacy policy. However, more recently, Zuckerberg has argued that the social network will somehow benefit from these changes.

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Avatar for Filipe Espósito Filipe Espósito

Filipe Espósito is a Brazilian tech Journalist who started covering Apple news on iHelp BR with some exclusive scoops — including the reveal of the new Apple Watch Series 5 models in titanium and ceramic. He joined 9to5Mac to share even more tech news around the world.