On the morning of September 23, Beijing time, it was reported that after Meta's Facebook and Instagram applications were exposed to tracking users across websites, two class actions had been submitted to the court, accusing the company of violating Apple's "Application Tracking Transparency" policy and relevant laws.
北京时间9月23日早间消息,据报道,在Meta旗下的Facebook和Instagram应用被曝对用户进行跨网站追踪后,已经有两起集体诉讼提交给法院,指控该公司违反苹果的《应用追踪透明度》政策以及相关法律。
It is reported that Meta has come up with an expedient to bypass Apple's privacy policy: insert tracking code into the website when users use the browser built into their application. In this way, whether users provide authorization for Meta's applications or not, they can monitor users' activities.
据悉,Meta为了绕过苹果的隐私政策而想出了一种权宜之计:在用户使用其应用内置的浏览器时,将追踪代码插入到网站中。这样一来,无论用户是否为Meta的应用提供授权,他们均可监控用户的活动。
Apple introduced the "Application Tracking Transparency" policy when it launched the iOS 14.5 update in April 2021. This technology can prohibit applications from tracking users, and users must obtain explicit permission to track. Meta has always opposed this. The company encouraged users to allow it to track, and even warned that this policy could reduce its advertising revenue by $10 billion this year.
苹果在2021年4月推出iOS 14.5更新时出台了《应用追踪透明度》政策。这项技术可以禁止应用追踪用户,并且必须获得用户的明确许可才能进行追踪。Meta之前一直对此表示反对。该公司鼓励用户允许其进行追踪,甚至警告称,这项政策可能导致其今年的广告收入减少100亿美元。
Meta refuted this allegation in a statement. The company said that the two lawsuits were "unfounded" and that they would actively defend. Meta also said that its in app browsers respect privacy decisions, including those related to advertising.
Meta在声明中反驳了这一指控。该公司表示,这两起诉讼都“没有根据”,他们将会积极抗辩。Meta还表示,该公司的应用内浏览器尊重隐私决定,包括跟广告有关的隐私决定。
The court may not be able to grant the class action qualification for these two lawsuits, but if this qualification is approved, it can apply for compensation for many users at the same time. However, whether or not they win the lawsuit, these lawsuits fully demonstrate the conflict between Meta, Apple and privacy advocates. Despite criticism and opposition from competitors, Meta is still committed to protecting the targeted advertising business that promotes its business growth.
法院最终未必能为这两起诉讼授予集体诉讼资格,但如果这一资格获得批准,就可以同时为许多用户申请补偿。不过,无论最终能否胜诉,这些官司都充分表明了Meta、苹果和隐私倡导者之间的冲突——尽管面临批评和竞争对手的反对,但Meta仍然致力于保护促进其业务增长的定向广告业务。