Apple's Privacy Measures to Cost Facebook $10 Billion in 2022

Facebook has said measures being taken by Apple on iOS that make it harder for platforms and apps to track users across other apps and websites will cost its business $10 billion in 2022.

tim cook mark zuckerberg
Facebook yesterday reported $33.67 billion in revenue, and while higher than expected, earnings per share were shy of analyst expectations. Facebook, renamed to Meta, also offered lower guidance for the first quarter of 2022, saying it would be expecting around $27 to $29 billion in revenue, short of $30 billion expectations (via CNBC).

As it has done in the past, Facebook shifted blame for its weaker performance during the past quarter onto steps being taken by Apple to improve user privacy. Most notably, Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, which requires apps to ask users for permission before tracking them across other apps and websites, is negatively impacting Facebook's business, the company's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, claimed during the earnings call.

First, ads. Like others in our industry, we’ve faced headwinds as a result of Apple’s iOS changes. As we described last quarter, Apple created two challenges for advertisers. One is that the accuracy of our ads targeting decreased, which increased the cost of driving outcomes. The other is that measuring those outcomes became more difficult.

The impacts of Apple's privacy measures will represent more significant challenges to Facebook's business in the next quarter, according to Facebook's chief financial officer, David Wehner. "And we believe the impact of iOS overall as a headwind on our business in 2022 is on the order of $10 billion, so it's a pretty significant headwind for our business," said Wehner.

Wehner also went on to accuse Apple of favoring Google in its privacy policy. Wehner said that ATT exempts browsers from asking users for permission to track them across other apps and websites, therefore allowing browsers like Chrome to be more effective in tracking users for personalized ad purposes.

Wehner accused Apple of favoring Google's Ad Search since "Apple continues to take billions of dollars a year from Google Search ads, [so] incentive clearly exists for this policy discrepancy to continue."

And if you look at it, we believe those restrictions from Apple are designed in a way that carves out browsers from the tracking prompts Apple requires for apps. And so what that means is that search ads could have access to far more third-party data for measurement and optimization purposes than app-based ad platforms like ours.

So when it comes to using data, you can think of it -- that it's not really apples-to apples for us. And as a result, we believe Google's search ads business could have benefited relative to services like ours that face a different set of restrictions from Apple. And given that Apple continues to take billions of dollars a year from Google Search ads, the incentive clearly exists for this policy discrepancy to continue.

Daily active users (DAUs) also took a hit in the past quarter, with Facebook reporting for the first time on record a drop in the number of daily users using its platform. DAUs stood at 1.93 billion in the final quarter of 2021, lower than 1.95 billion from the previous quarter. Still, Wehner said during the company's earnings call that DAUs were up 5% year-over-year.

We estimate that approximately 2.8 billion people used at least one of our Family of Apps on a daily basis in December, and that approximately 3.6 billion people used at least one on a monthly basis. Facebook daily active users were 1.93 billion, up 5% or 84 million compared to last year. DAUs represented approximately 66% of the 2.91 billion monthly active users in December. MAUs grew by 115 million or 4% compared to last year.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously shifted his outlook on Apple's ATT framework, initially saying it would hurt Facebook but later saying it could benefit the company in the long term.

Popular Stories

Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
apple silicon mac lineup 2024 feature purple m5

Apple's Upcoming Macs Listed in New Report

Thursday July 3, 2025 9:09 am PDT by
AppleInsider's Marko Zivkovic today shared a list of alleged identifiers for future Mac models, which should roll out over the next year or so. The report does not reveal anything too surprising, but it does serve as further evidence that Apple is seemingly working on new models of every Mac, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Apple is...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...

Top Rated Comments

eddjedi Avatar
45 months ago
Finally, some good news
Score: 100 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wanha Avatar
45 months ago
"Better locks on doors are costing burglars millions."
Score: 65 Votes (Like | Disagree)
robinp Avatar
45 months ago
This is hilarious. Finally someone stops facebook. Strange that it was Apple rather than a government, but at least brakes have been applied.
Score: 47 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0134168 Avatar
45 months ago
Translation…

“Apple’s privacy measures is preventing Facebook from stealing 10 billions in 2022”
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_Spinn_ Avatar
45 months ago
Good that means what Apple is doing to protect users is working.
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
45 months ago
I wish it could cost Facebook a lot more than $10 Billion dollars in 2022. Hopefully, Apple makes it even harder for companies like Facebook to track users' data.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)