How is the war on advertising between Meta and Apple going?

In 2021, Apple introduced a new privacy management feature called App Tracking Transparency (ATT), aimed at giving users more control over how third-party companies use their data. At the time, Apple made privacy protection a core message in its communications. Starting with the iOS 14.5 update, apps installed on Apple devices began explicitly asking for permission to track user activity. The message that appears when launching a new app for the first time is “Allow this app to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites?”. This measure had a huge impact on the digital advertising industry. Before ATT was introduced, user tracking was a widespread practice that allowed companies to collect behavioral data to deliver personalized ads. Companies like Meta, which build much of their business model on selling ad space, used this information to offer more targeted – and therefore more profitable – advertising. With Apple’s new policy, access to this type of data was significantly reduced, as a large share of users chose not to allow tracking. As a result, Meta and other companies had to rethink their advertising strategies. Zuckerberg’s company acknowledged that this change truly threatened its revenue prospects. Unsurprisingly, ahead of the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) rollout, Meta bought advertising pages in major U.S. newspapers to publicly criticize Apple’s new privacy policies. The company argued that these changes would negatively impact the entire digital advertising industry. That’s why, in 2022, Zuckerberg told shareholders that the restrictions imposed by Apple could cost Meta up to ten billion dollars in lost revenue that year alone.

How Meta Recovered

Faced with this scenario, Meta was forced to completely rethink the technologies used for ad distribution. However, a few years later, the company appears not only to have adapted but even strengthened its position. Instead of relying on third-party tracking, Meta developed a system that relies more on data collected directly from advertisers and cross-referenced with internal data on ad performance (such as clicks, interactions, and conversions). This system makes it possible to determine which campaigns actually performed, even without direct tracking. According to many analysts, the new system went through a difficult initial phase but stood the test of time, partly thanks to the increasingly sophisticated use of artificial intelligence – an area Meta has been investing in for years. A turning point was the launch of Advantage+, a platform that allows advertisers to set campaign goals while leaving the algorithm in charge of automatically optimizing ad distribution.

Advantage+ helped revamp Meta’s advertising strategy, although some industry professionals have pointed out a lack of transparency and reduced control over campaigns compared to the past. Nonetheless, the system has proven extremely effective. According to data released by the company, AI-supported campaigns saw a 12% increase in return on advertising spend compared to the previous year. Moreover, Meta stated that over 50% of the content shown in Instagram feeds is now selected by artificial intelligence systems – a sign of the growing centrality of these technologies in managing user experience and advertising. The company’s latest financial results reflect the success of this strategy: Meta recently announced revenues of around 40 billion dollars, up 19% compared to the same period in 2024. A clear signal that, although initially disadvantaged compared to Apple, the company has successfully reorganized its advertising infrastructure.